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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 

^'^'^P- - Copyright No. 

Slielf...C.1i, 

liNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



CORBIN'B ADVICK 



The Wolf Hunter's Guide 



Tells Ho-w to Catch 'Em and 

All About the Science of Wolf Hunting 



ii^ BWuN, CORBIjS' 



BISMARCK, N. D.: 

THE TRIBUNE CO., PRINTERS. 
1900 



I ! 




THE AUTHOR 




THE AUTHOR IN HIS EARLY DAYS 



G2G8 

t.iv»r<*cy of Congjrose 

Two C(>H€s Received 
JUN 15 1900 

Cc^ /right entry 

«o./2> ?L./^7 

FIRST COPY. 

2ti4 Copy Oeliv«re4 to 

ORDER DIVISION 

, JUN 16 1900 

•M0ND OOPY. 



^3304 

Copyrighted by . 
BEXJAMIN CORBIN 

1900 



F»RKKACK 



Benjamin Corhin, the Boss IVolf Hunter; His Life 
and Adventures. 

A plain blunt man of little learning, except that education 
received in the war for the union, as common soldier, and 
in communion with nature in her fields and forests, and 
along her streams of sparkling water, or in her mountains 
and valleys, and over her snows and ice, or under her blis- 
tering suns, and in the presence of her wildest living 
creatures, m>3n and animals, I venture now to put my life 
on paper, as I have often put it on the cast of a die through 
sights of a rifle before savage man and savage beast. 

It will not be a literary performance. 

I have always loved nature and stuck close to her, and 
I will try to do it in this book. 

If I have read my Bible correctly, Abraham was one of 
the first shepherds. In Genesis we read that he was rich 
in cattle, in silver and in gold — something like the ranch- 
men and stockmen of North Dakota. Indeed the pastoral 
life preceded every other profession. The Patriarchs were 
all shepherds. Every prayer to the Lord was accompan- 
ied by a sacrifice from the flocks and herds. When Abra- 
ham dug a well, and there was a dispute about it, he set- 
tled the whole thing with seven ewe lambs, and called the 
place An Oath. Those shepherds wandered from place to 
place wherever there was the best pasture, just as we do in 
Dakota, any more than the land of Canaan was nothing to 
be compared with Dakota for grazing. When Jacob went 
a courting, he hadn't a thing but a shepherd's crook, but 
before he returned he had two wives, and flocks and herds 
beyond computation. Even in later times a young fellow, 
who was out tending a flock, was called to be King of Israel, 
about the only good king we ever had — that was David. 
He was keeping sheep that very day. He had guarded the 
flocks from the ravages of bear and wolf and lion, and 
slain them with his own hands, and yet he made a good 



soldier, a peerless king, and the greatest poet that ever 
lived. Later on, we should never forget that the Star of 
Bethlehem was first seen by the shepherds, tending their 
flocks by night. Virgil first sang the praise of shepherd 
life in his bucolics, before he sang the praise of the arms 
and the man. All sacred and classic history is replete with 
descriptions of Pastoral Life. All the world knows that 
astronomy was first made a science by the shepherds, watch- 
ing the moving grandeurs of the skies. 

In the New Testament, the parable of the Good Shepherd 
shines like a star. If Jesus did not disdain to call himself 
the Good Shepherd, why should any man in Dakota not 
be proud to be called by that name, or to be associated as 
I am, with the men who are feeding their flocks on the 
rich and abundant pastures of this great commonwealth? 
Largely, my life has been spent in protecting these flocks 
against the incursions of ravenous beasts of prey. I know 
it is but a step and the first step, which counts in the 
march of civilization. God made the country, but man 
made the town — and some of these towns are pretty tough, 
like most of men's work. I can not believe that Providence 
intended that these rich lands, broad, well watered, fertile 
and waving with abundant pasturage, close by mountains 
and valleys, filled with gold, and every metal and mineral, 
should be forever monopolized by wild beasts and savage 
men. I believe something in the survival of the fittest, 
and hence I have "fit" for it all my life. Civilization is a 
fine thing, and it may spreaa itself like a green bay tree in 
the cities, and lordly mansions of the millionaires, with 
all their silks and broadcloths, but it has to have plenty 
of beef and pork and mutton — yes, yes, and wool too, and 
plenty of it. But my lord and lady would go bare-footed, 
and that would be bad form, and naked, and that would 
be worse, and empty, and that would be awful, if somebody, 
somewhere and somehow, would not send them leather, 
and wool and beef and mutton. But the herds and flocks 
must be raised and protected here for my lord and lady, 
if it takes the last man and the last dollar. The wolf don't 
like them, and I trust the wolf will never come near their 
doors, or that any of them will turn out " wolves in sheep 
clothing," but if he comes near mine I will take him in, 
and it will be the saddest day of his life. That's why I am 
here. The wolf is the enemy of civilization, and I want to 
exterminate him. If he eats up the flocks, where are your 



wool and mutton to come from, and what's the use of a 
tariff on wool, and free trade in wolves? I would place the 
duty higher on both. 

But I forget — this is not the book — this is but the preface 
to my book, and I must cut the thing shor- as I would the 
whole wolf population of the west, if I could, and I guess I 
can, and before you read this book half through you sihall 
know that I can better than any man that ever walked the 
earth. That is pretty big talk, but I have the record, as a 
wolf-exterminator, and no man will dispute it. I hope to in- 
terest you in this book, and in the lives of those gentle and 
harmless creatures here, who furnish your abundant ward- 
robes, and cuisine, and labor, with all the comforts and 
luxuries of fashion and necessity, far away from here in 
your homes of wealth and pride. I hope you will not only 
buy the book, but pay for it, and not lend or borrow it — 
and I know you would not steal it — and then read it and 
learn something of what it costs to ward away the wolves, 
which would destroy the flocks. 

THE AUTHOR. 



CHAPTER I. 

BRIEF SKETCH OF THE AUTHOR. NECESSITY OP 
PROTECTING THE GREAT STOCK INTERESTS 
OF THE STATE. 

Perhaps no name is more familiar to the stockmen and 
wool growers of North Dakota than that of honest old 
Ben Corbin, the champion wolf hunter of the northwest. 
Mr. Corbin is no novice in the business of hunting, trap- 
ping and shooting the enemies of the flocks and herds. 
As the saying is, he served his time and learned his trade 
by hard work and many years experience. 

Born in Virginia on April 26, 1835, he is now 65 years of 
age; but his eye is not yet so dimmed or his physical force 
so abated that he cannot bring down with his trusty 
Winchester rifle a deer or wolf that, is 100 or 200 yards off 
as well as he could twenty years ago. When a boy of 16 
he removed with his father's family to Coschocton county, 
Ohio, then quite a new country, and regarded as being 
far away in the west from the Old Dominion. It was 
really a bigger trip then than a voyage to Europe or a 
railroad ride across the continent would be now, and 
Ohio has shifted from the west until it is now regarded as 
being pretty far in the east, if we look at it from the sun- 
set land of the Rockies and the Cascades. After a stop 
of four years in Ohio, Ben shifted his residence to Wayne 
county, Iowa, where he hunted and trapped until the civil 
war broke out, when he enlisted in Company "F," 34th 
Iowa infantry. He was a gallant soldier for three years, 
and when the war closed he was honorably discharged, 
returning to his old home in Iowa and resuming his former 
occupation of hunter and trapper. At that time north- 
western Iowa was being rapidly settled, and was fllling up 
with flocks and herds, for sheep, wool and live stock 
generally commanded splendid prices. Free trade had not 
yet got in its deadly work on the American market, and in 
those days — the golden age of the farmer — the wool growers 
and stock raisers were making money. Protected in- 
dustry made good times everywhere and in every line of 
business, and Mr. Corbin was making hay while the sun 
was shining. Then, as now, he believed in high protection, 
and, the country being full of wolves, he devoted his 
time and energies to their destruction. Iowa at that time 
was paying a bounty for every wolf destroyed, and soon, 
figuratively speaking, Corbin had eighty wolf scalps hang- 
ing to his belt, captured in the counties of Lyon, Sioux, 



k 



10 Corhin's Advice ; Or, 



Woodbury and Monon. It paid the flockmasters and the 
people to give this bounty, for otherwise, their flocks and 
herds would have been at the mercy of the wolves, which 
abounded in that region. 

In the year 1883 our champion wolf-scalper, moved by the 
same spirit of immigration which carried brigades and 
divisions of the union veterans farther west, picked up 
his rifle and his traps and removed to Stark county, in the 
then vast and wild territory of Dakota. Here he and his 
son Peter — since deceased — in one season killed 132 deer 
and antelope and 45 beaver. They found ample scope and 
opportunity for the development of their skill as profes- 
sional and expert hunters; and the business was quite re- 
munerative, too, for the deer and antelope brought them 
from $3 to $13 per head and the beaver about $6 per pelt. 

For the past fifteen years our old hero has mainly plied 
his occupation in the county in which he now resides — Em- 
mons. North Dakota. This part of the great northwest 
is remarkably well adapted to grazing, and abounds in 
sheep and other live stock. Indeed, North Dakota is a 
veritable paradise for sheep. Number in 1899, 2(>j,94'2; 
number of wolves in .1899, 343,000— femalesi 171,500; in- 
crease, 857,500; total 1,200,400. 

With grass, grain and water abundant, and an atmos- 
phere and climate remarkably well adapted to the success 
of these industries, and with grain unprofitably low all 
over the world, the raising of cattle and sheep is the main 
dependence. The flockmasters of North Dakota and of 
the northwest generally are about to witness the dawning 
of a brighter day, and are carefully watching their flocks 
and herds, with the confident hope and expectation that a 
protective tariff will soon restore the old remunerative 
prices, and consequently, their old-time prosperity. They 
see in the returns of the recnt elections the assurance that 
the tariff, which once made their flocks and herds a valu- 
able investment, will soon be revived. 

able investment, will soon be revived. Remember, the wolf 
is cunning and sly and hard to catch. Novices and amateurs 
cunning and sly and hard to catch. Novices and amateurs 
have no business with the wolf, unless they are first in- 
structed in the habits of the animals and the mode of their 
capture. The wily brute will "laugh" at them. It takes 
an expert hunter to catch the wolf; and this, in plain Eng- 
lish, he cannot be unless the state pays a bounty to reim- 
burse and make a reasonable profit for the man who has 
paid an expert to teach him the secrets of the business and 
explain to him the "signs" left by the animals, without a 
knowledge of which wolf-hunting as an occupation would 
be unremuncrative. 

There is such a thing as being "penny wise and pound 
foolish" — "letting in at the spigot and out at the bung-hole." 
This is not economy. It is a waste of time and money to 
reduce expenditures where the returns are as sure and as 



The Wolf Hunter^s Guide. H 



beneficial as they are here. I repeat that, on grounds of 
public policy, hunters like Ben Corbin should be stimulated 
and encouraged to perform the public function of assisting 
in destroying an enemy as persistent and annoying and ex- 
pensive as the wolf. Were the state invaded by an armed 
foe, who would question the policy of offering a bounty to 
volunteers, as the igovernment did during the civil war, to 
drive out the common foe? One not less dangerous, not 
less common, than such a hostile force, threatens to destroy 
one of the peaceful and most prolific and honorable indus- 
tries of the state. Is it not the duty of the state— that is, 
of its citizens collectively— the legislature— to assist in the 
expulsion of the enemy? "What is everybody's business 
is nobody's business." It must be done by a system. It 
must be done for the common good. The state must take 
the matter into its own hands for the common weal. 

I know that it is argued that every man owes it to him- 
self to "keep the w^olf from the door." The quotation is 
not applicable in this case. It is quite another thing from 
keeping him from a neighbor's door. It is the general 
welfare that states are organized to protect, and they can- 
not descend to private, particular concerns. 

On the other hand, the private individual is not obliged 
to care for the interests of the whole state, beyond his part 
and proportion of public duty, and his public duty is per- 
formed when he shares his money or labor with the state 
in the shape of taxes. His interests are bound up with the 
state, and, having received his money or labor in the shape 
of taxes, the state is in duty bound to protect all his rights 
in person and property, let the cost be what it may. What 
greater enemy can they have? 

HE KNEW BETTER. 

From Philadelphia comes a story of a hospital orderly 
possessed of more brawn than brain. The man was an 
Irishman, only recently employed, and one night the resi- 
dent physician told him to be on hand by 11 o'clock to take 
to the deadhouse the body of a consumptive patient who 
could not live past that hour. 

Upon the stroke of the clock Dennis was on hand. The 
night nurse was in another part of the ward, and the pa- 
tient was, to all appearances, dead. Dennis and his asso- 
ciate tossed the body upon a stretcher and carried it out. 
In the hall the cold air revived the sufferer from the effects 
of "the hypodermic" which had been administered. 

"Where are you taking me?" he asked. 

"To the deadhouse, of course," replied Dennis; "where 
the devil else d'ye think I'd be after takin' you?" 

"But I'm not dead," protested the patient, starting up. 

"Lie down this minit!" protested the orderly. "It's 
great cheek ye have! D'ye think ye know more about it 
than the doctor?" 



12 Corbiti's Advice'; Or, 



CHAPTER II. . 



THE WOLF AND THE DAMAGE HE DOES TO DO- 
MESTIC AND WILD ANIMALS. HOW I BECAME 
A HUNTER. 

The wolf is a four-legged animal, very cunning and sly — 
always has plenty to eat for he don't have to buy it. He 
is about the size of a shepherd dog and is a fast runner, a 
good fighter and is hard to catch and like some men, looks 
very sheepy. He is very fond of ham, especially the mutton 
ham. They outwit a man in one respect. When they want 
to rest they lie down, while the men will lie standing up. 

The gray or the paririe wolf commonly called the coyote, 
is very trouolesome in all western states, killing colts, 
calves, pigs and all kinds of poultry. They hunt mostly 
in packs and destroy great numbers of deer in the stiff 
snows of winter, sometimes slaughtering whole herds in a 
single night. The sheepfold of the frontier farmer also 
suffers from their depredations. They feed on almost all 
the smaller anim.als they can overpower. Troops of them 
have been known to pursue and attack men. When hunt- 
ing in packs and pressed with hunger, they are bold and 
exceeding ferocious. At other times, when roaming 
singly, they are sneaking and cowardly. The grey wolf of 
this country, which may be taken as the standard of size, 
is about four feet long from the point of the nose to the 
root of the tail; the length of tail being about seventeen 
inches. In the far north they are very large, sometimes 
measuring six and one-half feet in total length, and weigh- 
ing one hundred and fifty pounds. 

In the ranching districts of North America today it is 
variously estimated that each grey wolf costs the cattle 
men from fifty to five hundred dollars annually. 

The wolf-hunter has to cope with an animal of almost 
human intelligence, an animal without superior in sagacity 
among all the wild beasts of the chase, and one which will 
tax his utmost ability to circumvent. 

I am a. hunter by birth, a veritable nimrod from away 
back. My father hunted redskins with Daniel Boone and 
counted the notches on his gunbarrel, a notch for every 
scalp, fourteen in all. Our cattle got fat on huckleberries 
in the mountains in those days, and father herded and 



The Wolf Hunter'' s Guide. 



13 



salted them there. The wolf bounty was $20 on old wolves, 
and $10 on pups under six months old. Father used to hear 
the wolves howl and it made him smile when he was camp- 
ing out; for he knew there were dollars for him in every 
howl. Every few days a calf was missing. The state of 
Virginia paid $5, the county $5, and stockmen made it $20, 
and put the money in bank, snug and safe, for any one who 
killed a wolf in Hampshire county. 

It was all gold, silver and poor paper notes those days. 
A wolf den was worth $50 tO' $150 if you got the male, 
female and offspring. My father did not carry a shepherd's 
crook but a gun, while herding cattle; for deer, bear and 
wolves abounded there. His gun had a flint lock, mind 
you. I learned to shoot with it. Many a time it snapped, 
and I would lick the frisen and try again. But with that 
old fusee he njade $125 one day at three shots. In the 
morning he shot a bear, and sold it to a big Jim Parsons 
for $5. At the second shot he killed the she wolf for which 
he got $25, and ripping her open, got her eight kids. That 
beats me for I never got but $5 at one shot. His third shot 
took the old male worth $20 more. 

There's money in wolf hunting if you only know how. 
When I was a boy, I fairly lived in the woods, and had a 
hankering after game. Hearing father tell about making 
money catching wolf and bear, and crawling under rocks 
after them, and shooting them, and tying a hickory withe 
around their necks, and have two men pull him out while 
he hauled the bear or wolf out, too, it encouraged me to go 
into the business. I did the same trick once, but will 
never try it again. At Long Lake Creek I shot the old 
wolf fifteen times before I killed her with a 22 Winchester. 
On Apple Creek while I was setting the hook, the bank fell 




OLD WOLF AND KIDS ON OUTSIDE OF DEN 

in behind me, and it was all I could do to dig out, yet our 
county commissioners want me to kill wolves for $1 or .$2 
a head and run the risk of being eaten alive. If they read 
my book through they will change their tune. The Savior 
picked his twelve out of fishermen and the like, and yet got 



14 



Corbin^s Advice ; Or, 



one devil — if he had gone into any other class, I suspect 
the whole dozen would have been like Judas. 

I sleep easy nights and am growing fat, while I watch the 
increase in Lhe wolf industry, that costs me no more than 
the grass that grows. If you are strong, have a clear head, 
a good liver and know how, you can make money catching 
wolves all the year 'round, provided the state, the county 
and the stockmen, who have their millions in live stock, 
pay a decent bounty on wolves. 

I have made $40 a day. My average last year was five 
wolves per day, but the bounty was only $1.45 a head, 
with 50 per cent off for cash. I can catch wolves twelve 




PULLING OUT OF DEN WHEN ABOUT ONE MONTH OLD 

xiifferent ways, yes, and all sorts of game. I was in Iowa 
when ths war broke out and if any of the 34th Iowa boys 
read this, they will testify that the Wolves didn't eat all 
the sheep "as we were marching through Georgia." We 
got twenty sheep when we drove the Johnnies back from 
Alexandria on Red River. I think that was the best mut- 
ton I ever tasted. I can taste it yet — and I suppose Uncle 
Sam is still paying thousands of dollars for those sheep. 



A young wife remonstrated with her husband, a dissi- 
pated spendthrift, on his conduct. "My love," said he, "I 
am like the prodigal son; I shall reform -by-and-by." 
"And I, too, will be like the prodigal son," cried she. "I 
will arise and go to my father;" and accordingly off she 
went. 



Mr. Jenkins playfully remarked to his wife that in her 
he possessed four fools. "Who are they?." she asked. 
"Beauti-fool, duti-fool, youth-fool, and delight-fool," said 
he. "You have the advantage of me, my dear," she replied, 
"I have but one fool." 



The Wolf Hunter'' s Gtdde. 15 



CHAPTER III. 

THE WOLx'' BOUNTY. REASONS WHY IT SHOULD. 
NOT BE LESS THAN $5. 

In a careful search of the statutes enacted by several, 
states for the past half century or more, I have found that 
less than $5 has seldom been offered for each wolf or coy- 
ote killed. It would seem, from the testimony of the laws; 
on the subject and from the experience of old hunters, 
that $5 is about the least that the service can be done for. 
If there is a market price at which any labor can be per- 
formed, why should not this business have its market 
price, also? The measure is this: What is the least 
that good service can be obtained for in any industry? 
Ascertain this and it becomes the wage rate for that kind 
of labor — its fixed average value — by every canon of indus- 
trial economy. 

If the state will pay .$5 for each wolf killed, let the county 
bounty go for it is fairer for the state than for the county 
to pay it. But with a county interest in it, bringing it 
nearer home to the hunters — and there may be more urgent 
reasons for prosecuting the business in some sections of the 
state than in others — I would let the county bounty stand 
at from $2 to $3 and the state bounty at from .$.5 to $10, and 
thus insure a constant and unremitting warfare on these 
destructive pests. Sheep cannot increase in a ratio of 
more than two to one annually, while the wolf population 
is augmented by from 600 to 800 per cent each year, and in 
a little while there will be overwhelming numbers of them 
unless the work of destruction is vigorously encouraged 
and prosecuted. It matters little to the hunters where 
the pay comes from, so that it comes sure; but, without It, 
certain ii is that the necessary work of extermination will 
not be done at all. 

Thus all the money hitherto paid in state bounties for 
killing wolves will be ultimately lost. Infested in most 
parts with packs of wolves, the state will soon be overrun 
with them. No animal is more prolific or cares more for 
its young. It is nothing strange for a female wolf to have 
from six to nine cubs at a litter. Why, even now, people 
have to watch their flocks carefully — in the daytime, even — 
to keep the wolves away from them. 

Not only are they dangerous to sheep, but they destroy 
many colts and calves each year. They are now growing 



16 CorbiiVs Advice : Or, 



bolder, because of the fact that they are hunted no longer, 
or, at least, very little, and they are quick to discover the 
fact. There are instances where they have attacked 
children going to and from school. There is nothing un- 
common, also, for packs of howling wolves to enter the 
barnyards of the farmers and steal their poultry, which is 
now about the most vaiuable stock that they can raise on 
the farm. In these several items hundreds of thousands of 
dollars are lost each year. 

It is not argued that the restoration of the state bounty, 
or even $5 a head for old wolves and $3 for cubs, would 
absolutely protect all these interests. Certainly not. 
Even with the exercise of the utmost care and caution, 
many depredations by wolves would still occur. But the 
fact is patent that the restoration of the state bounty would 
encourage the hunting and trapping of these destructive 
brutes, and go a long way toward securing at least a par- 
tial protection to all domestic animals. With the fecund- 
ity of the wolf as great as it is, there is no other way to stop 
their increase. It will not do to say that the stockmen 
should be left to do the necessary work themselves, and 
that if they do not protect their own sheep they should lose 
them. This is a narrow and selfish view of the matter. 
A question of public policy, of justice and of fairness comes 
in and requires the state to protect the general interests of 
the people and defend them from every public enemy; and 
what greater enemy can the state have than one that is able 
to wage war on the state's chief industry both day and 
night. 

I am convinced that no appeal for a wolf bounty can be 
put too strongly to every board of county commissioners 
and to the legislature of our great and grov/ing state. 
North Dakota is, as I have said, a paradise for stockmen. 
It has no peer on this continent. It is attracting capital 
from the worn-out fields of Ohio, Pennsylvania and the 
eastern states. But it must not be forgotten that in at 
least two-thirds of the state the chief attraction to capital 
is for investment in live stock, to be cared for and pasture 
to perfection on our cheap and fertile lands. In a few 
words, in a great part of the state it is stock or nothing. 
If those of us who live in that greater part cannot have 
this interest protected, we might as well pack our traps 
and leave. It is poor encouragement to eastern capital to 
take down the barriers which protect and defend our chief 
industry. New England protects and fosters her fisheries 
and her factories; New York wisely guards her commerce, 
finance and trade; Pennsylvania devotes her tenderest care 
to her mines and mills, and Ohio keeps one eye open to the 
protection and welfare of her great industry of making 
presidential possibilities; Colorado and Montana look well 
to their silver interests; Alabama and the cotton belt guard 
the throne of King Cotton; Iowa for corn; California for 



The Wolf Hunter's Guide. 17 

gold and fruits. But North Dakota — the promised land of 
the shepherd and the herdsman — proposes now to uncon- 
ditionally surrender her greatest industry to the wolves! 
If we prefer wolves to cattle and sheep and eastern capital 
— if we would destroy the flocks already here and keep 
others out, and give our state a bad name among its 
friends — why, then, let us discourage the wolf bounty, and, 
to save a few dollars, throw millions away, 

I was much impressed with Mr. Corbin's quiet humor. 
When I read this part to him and asked him how any 
friend of North Dakota could find fault with my logic, he 
replied: "Oh! easy enough. There are only a few men — 
like you and I — that care a button about these things. 

They have no state pride — care nothing for our live stock 
or for my hunting business. Why, sir, some of these blasted 
fools would rather see all the stock and half the children 
eaten up by the wolves than to see me make $5 — yes, or 
even $3 — by my business. Jealousy is a mean thing. So 
is envy. But if men, even in our legislature and in our 
county commissioners offices, can keep me from making 
a dollar and at the same time gratify this mean envy and 
palm off on the people for retrenchment, pretending that 
they take the bounty off for economy's sake — why, confound 
them, they chuckle and laugh at you and me for fools. 
I would about as soon let the wolves decide it as some men 
we send to the legislature, for you know the good book 
tells us about 'wolves in sheep's clothing." " 

I was led into these reflections by a long talk I recently 
had with Mr. Corbin on the subject. Being an expert in 
this line, a friend of the flocks and an enemy of whatever 
Injures them, be it man or beast, his conversation upon this 
subject interested me so deeply that I determined to make 
his views public through the columns of the Record, and at 
the same time incorporate with such views a somewhat 
imperfect sketch of his life. I wish that an abler pen than 
mine might do the old hero justice, but limited space here 
forbids. 

An honest, modest gentleman of the old school; wise in 
Lincoln's sense of the word "wisdom;" a disciple of 
nature, loving it in all its forms and studious of it in all 
its moods; long a companion of its solitude in mountain, 
plain and prairie, in the woods and along the streams; that 
plain, practical common sense which comes from such 
communion with nature lends a charm to all he has to say, 
and the sketch here given does but scant justice to the 
grand old hero. — Cor. Emmons County Record. 



i§ Corbin''s Advice; Or, 



CHAPTER IV. 

WOLF KILLING A SCIENCE AND WOLFOLOGY IS 
TAUGHT ONLY BY THE WRITER HIMSELF. 
LEAVING THE DEN FOR THE NEXT YEAR S CROP. 
TEMPTING THE WOLF IN RANGE OF THE HUN- 
TER'S GUN BY TRAILING THE DOG CLOSE BE- 
HIND THE BUGGY. 

Starting on one of my expeditions in May or June, I 
ride in a buggy, with the Winchester and dog. That dog 
wont pass any fresh sign without, a growl or bark to let 
me know. I hunt against the wind, and let the dog go as 
he will, and I watch him. We understand each other, and 
Mr. Wolf knows us both. If the sign is a calf's leg, or 
duck, or fresh egg shells, I know the wolf is not a mile off 
and so does Shep, my dog. If you see the old wolves 
sitting on high ground and looking, after April 2."3th, be 
sure the den is not a mile off every time. The time to 
kill the old wolf is when you locate the den sure, for they 
will come closer to you now then ever again. There are 
several ways to get and shoot the old ones. One or both 
of them. 

Tie a small dog close to the den, and then hide. About 
sunset the wolf will attack the dog — then shoot quick. An- 
other way is, tie a cub close to the den and let the old 
wolf see it. Then tie your dog close by, and conceal your- 
self—not long — ^soon the dog will begin to howl and the old 
wolf will go for him in defense of the cub — then shoot. 

Never kill the young one till you play this game to a 
finish. You may carry the young ones five miles at night,, 
and the old ones will be with you next morning — such is 
their affection for their young. The old ones will outwit, 
you unless you consult me first by letter of otherwise. I 
could catch more old ones, but I wont as long as the bounty 
is so slow. I can make more catching cubs. 

It is no fun. I have no salary like officers who get a big 
salary and mileage. Remember I board myself and two 
teams and a hired man, and sleep in the open air. It so 
happens that I catch hundreds of young wolves where I 
never see hide or hair of the old ones, who are off looking 
for their grub, steak among your cattle, sheep and poultry, 
smiling at your pitiful $2 bounty. 

In warm or soft weather I trap them this way. I take- 



The WolfHimter's Guide . 19 



some old horse or cow with the big jaw or some disease 
that renders them worthless and plant it in a shallow pond 
or lake, and kill it, and cut it open, set my trap, and there 
you are, Mr. Wolf, early next morning. I catch scores that 
way. 

It works like a charm — I have caught ten wolves in one 
night this way with as many traps — ^but everything depends 
on caution and sense in setting traps. I will not go into 
further details for that would be endless. I have a hun- 
dred tricks I would tell you about trapping if I had the 
space, but I am not writing a big book, and can only give 
you a hint and pass on. 

One of my best tricks is to locate the den at breeding 
time and pull the cubs out with my peculiar hooks and long 
ash or fishpole — I haul them all out — sometimes get ten and 
leave the den for the next year's crop O. K. I have wire 
and hooks for the purpose, and have applied for a patent. 

Sometimes I go to the path the wolves travel and set my 
traps there. In the thickest brush, I cut off the saplings 
close to the ground about eight inches wide, for about ten 
feet from the path, and remove the brush carefully to a dis- 
tance. I then cut off anotner bush about four feet high, 
at the erjd of the ten feet and slip the trap ring over the 
bush. Now I take the best bait I have — a deer's or a pig's 
head — and slip it over the bush. Fresh meat is best. I 
chop a hole in the ground about twelve inches from bait, 
and carry the dirt away, and put in the trap and cover it 
up with gunny sack or calico, and cover ic over with the 
line dirt and leaves, and then go off and wait. 

In my lecture on Wolfology which I am delivering all 
over the west, you will hear me tell the whole story how 
I trap, shoot and hook wolves to your heart's content, for 
I cannot particularize here. Always have a gentle team 
that will stand fire, or you will get left and have to walk 
home and carry your pets too. 

I always darken the den — always bait the fish hook on 
the end of my pole with fresh meat, and wait till morning 
with best results. Another plan I have is to tie my dog to 
a ten foot pole behind the buggy and drive by the den. The 
old wolves think, of course, the dog is after their young, 
and they rush at the dog, then I shoot. 

I carry chains and collars for the purpose, and often 
picket out the cubs and let the old one comes to them, 
where I can get a shot. This works like a charm. I 
often get both old ones. If I can draw the old ones to 
follow my dog tied to a ten foot pole behind my buggy — I 
shoot. If I can attract them to the dog and kid tied lo a 
stake — I shoot. I get the old ones so. If I fail I reach 
into the den and grapple the cubs out with hooks made on 
purpose, so by hook or crook I manage to get them, old 
or young, all one to me, for it is the bounty I am after all 
the time. 



20 Corbiri's Advice ; Or, 



My wolf code of honor bars poison. It is unsafe, unfair, 
uncivilized. I draw the line at honest fresh bait, fish pole 
and hooks for the purpose, and my trusty dog and gun, and 
I put up my hunter wisdom, experience and cunning 
against that of the wolf, and I find him sometimes more 
than a m^atch at my best, for a fact, for anyone who takes 
the wolf for a fool gets left every time. 

The howl of the wolf causes his capture, for it locates 
his den. •■ , 



WOLF HUNTING A SCIENCE. 

Wolf-killing is a science, and only educated men — edu- 
cated, I mean, in Wolfology — can successfully combat and 
destroy these varmints. This science is not taught in any 
of the schools of the state, but it is a science nevertheless. 
A man would not pretend to practice medicine, or preach, 
or practice law without an education especially for his line 
of work; the same is true of wolf killing. Sports will 
have a good time for a day and kill a wolf, or possibly two 
wolves, and will be satisfied, but the professional wolf- 
killer studies his subject until he understands the nature 
of the animal he is after so thoroughly that he can locate 
him and destroy more in one week than all the sports in 
the county, and those who kill accidentally, will destroy in 
a year. This being true and the fact that the western 
part of the state is over-run with wolves that do thousands 
of dollars worth of damage every year, it behooves the 
stockmen of North Dakota to make it an object for those 
who can slay wolves to devote their time to this important 
industry. 

The damage they do is trifling to any one flock or herd 
perhaps, but in the aggregate they do many thousand dol- 
lars worth of damage every year. Wolves increase -vith. 
wonderful rapidity and are so cunning that it is practically 
impossible to poison them. Only experts can make any 
headway toward the destruction of these pests. Unless 
the different counties and the state offer a premium of 
sufficient importance to make it an object to diminish the 
number of wolves, they will increase until the damage done 
will be many hundred times greater than the amount neces- 
sary to keep the numbers down or exterminate. 



SAFETY IN SHEEP. 

The farmer finds the sheep industry his safest invest- 
ment. When all other farm products fail to yield their 
average revenues he seeks solace in the fact that in all 
emergencies the flock can be depended upon. The farmer 
never fails to shear his sheep, and his bank account, as a 
result, shows a comfortable balance in his favor. 



The Wolf mmter's Guide. 



21 



The farmer looks to his sheep to pay off mortgages. 

When his crops fail, he feels sure that his clip will rind 
a ready cash market. 

He rests assured that wool will not deteriorate l)y stor- 
age, should he desire to hold it for better prices. 

He has nothing to fear, everything to gain, and nothing 
to lose. 

He feels confident that a decline in the sheep ijidiistjy is 
almost impossible. 

He does not worry about finding a ready market for bis 
mutton. 

Sheep while yielding a comfortable income, improve the 
soil. 

As a general rule farmers who stock their farms with 
sheep find after a brief experience that their money couid 
not have been more safely invested had they placed it in 
the strong vaults of a bank. 







4^ f 



L*i*i«^^ 






CUES CAUGHT WHEN ABOUT TWO MONTHS OLD 



^2 Corbiri'S Advice ; Or, 



CHAPTER V, 

A SERMON ON WOLVES, AND DESCRIPTION OF MY 
WOLF FARM AND NUMBER OF WOLVES CAUGHT. 

You will find my text in the one-eyed chapter of the iw."'- 
€yed John, which reads as follows: "Let no man escape, 
and to give every man his poison in due season." This text 
is far reachirig and will take in both the four and two- 
legged. Cut this out and paste in your scrap baok and 
you will know how to vote this fall. No man can be suc- 
cessful who neglects his business. 

NUMBER OF CATTLE, SHEEP AND WOLVES IN 
EIGHT STATES OF THE UNION. 

Cows Other Cattle Sheep Wolves 

Nebraska 628,750 1,395,825 296,779 275,000 

South Dakota 372,321 449,362 363,697 275,000 

North Dakota 175,073 252,640 359,721 343,000 

Montana 43,994 952,598 3,.377,547 300,000 

Wyoming 18,140 694,973 2.328,025 340,000 

Colorado 91,666 973,259 1,655,557 200,000 

New Mexico 19,317 701,967 3,128,692 350,000 

Arizona 18,404 381,812 1,014,287 175,000 

Figure this * * * 2,140,000 

LIST OF WOLVES AND INCREASE. 

Now, here is a list of five wolves and the .imount of 
bounty that has been paid for their increase in nine years: 
Wolf No. 1 has five pups a year for nine years, 

45 at $3 S 135,00 

Wolf No. 2 has six pups a year for nine years, 

54 at ^3 1G2.00 

Wolf No, 3 has seven pups a year for nine years, 

03 at $3 189 .00 

Wolf No. 4 has eight pups a year for nine years, 

72 at $3 210 .00 

Wolf No. 5 has nine pups a year for nine years, 

81 at $3 243. 'jO 

Total $ 945.00 

This is the amount the county and state has paid for the 
increase of those five wolves in the last nine years. Does 



The Wolf Hunter's Guide. 2$ 

not this show that it would pay the county to put a higher 
bounty on the old wolves? Those same five wolves will 
present their check in the shape of young wolves for about 
$40 . 00 by the 10th of May. Which is the worst, free trade 
or free wolves? Both are bad. The place to catch the 
two-legged wolves is at the ballot box this fall. 

Wolves out here? Well I should smile! North Dakota 
has 340,000 today, ravaging the flocks and herds, and annu- 
ally destroying more stock than I dare publish in dollars, 
and yet they offer me a miserable $1 and $2 a head for ex- 
terminating them, and saving the cattle and sheep. 

Minnesota pays $5 to $15, so does Wyoming substantially,, 
while Nebraska, South Dakota, Montana, Colorado and 
Washington pay $3 state bounty to say nothing of the 
county and other special bounties. In these eight states 
are nearly three million wolves, and say, $1,300,000 of these 
females eacn annually multiplying the stock of wolves by 
five, and if yoa will figure for yourself you will see the total 
for the eight states may run to nearly 10,000,000 in one 
year to come. 

In many sections the little children dare not go to school 
because of these prowling and ferocious beasts. I should 
think it a very poor child not worth $3 to $5 a head. 

Our lawgivers seem to think otherwise. If there are mil- 
lions of wolves out west and no one disputes it, at the 
present rate of increase and destruction, the millenium will 
be here long before the total is reduced a single wolf. The 
problem is too easy and I drop it right here. 

I have caught over 1,100 wolves the last nine years, on 
what I call my wolf farm, in the north half of Emmons 
county, N. D., the garden spot of the west. I know every 
inch of this beautiful and fertile region, and notnmg pleases 
me more than to take a stranger in my buggy and (\Yiv& 
him over my farm and point out a nice home for him. 

I live on my own land near Glencoe, N. D., and my 
latchstring is always out for any decent man who is hunt- 
ing for a home. I am a republican, a member of the 
church, a temperance man, and believe in all things that 
are good, and no joy comes to me like that of extending a 
rough but friendly hand to any fellow man who comes to 
my door, or writes to me for information. My wife is 
still with me to cheer my old age, my five children grown 
and settled close tO' me, industrious and decent, and what 
more does any man desire in this world — except a pension, 
and I have that too. 

I helped to put McKinley in but not to cut and slash pen- 
sions, and if he don't oust that man Evans and redeem his 
promises of four years ago, he will lose three-fourths of the 
soldier vote. 

I took a long-handled shovel when I moved here, and 
dug out forty-two wolf dens, put the dirt at a distance so 
the wolves would suspect nothing, and these dens have 



24 



Corbin's Advice : Or 



been little gold mines to me — for the wolves went there and 
I too, in due time when the pups began to bark, as you will 
see further along in my book. 

I know where to find them and hook the cubs out in the 
breeding season you see. I catch them witn pole and hook 
and do not disturb the den, but leave it for the next year's 
crop. I know every sign and track of the wolf, his habits, 
his modes of thought and his cunning to a finish, and 
waste no time scouring tlie country over, for in that way 
he knows more than I do how to keep out of my way. 

In certain cases I get a nice fee for killing some special 
pair of wolves that have committed depredations on some 
rich man's poultry, sheep or cattle. I knew one pair to 
kill fifteen head of sheep, and the owner offered me $10 to 
kill them. 

With sheep at $3 to $5 and wool at 20 cents, how long 
does it take a wolf to destroy more than the pitiful $1 or 
^2 I get for killing him? This is the practical question 




UNCLE ben's home AT GLENCOE 

addressed to our legislature, our county commissioners and 
the farmers of North Dakota, most of all. If this stingy 
policy does not change, it will not be long until the wolves 
will take the Red River Valley, and make it a howling 
desert again; for deprive the farmer and stockmen of their 
profits in stock, they must resort to raising and selling 
grain, and shipping it east at the ruinous rates charged by 
the railroads, and at that business they cannot live, and 
will soon return east, and let tue wolves have North Da- 
l^ota. 



The Wolf Huntet 's Ginde. 25 



WOLVES DECIDEDLY BOLD. 

Wolves are reported bolder in the northern part of the 
state than ever before. Joseph Augur of Bathgate, while 
driving with a team Avas chased by a band of seven, 
and it was only with the utmost exertions of his team that 
he managed to make his escape. It is seldom that wolves 
will attack individuals, particularly the kind that infest 
the prairies and woods of this state. 

PRIVATE DALZELL'S BUREAU OF ORATORY, 2311 PA. 
AVE., WASHINGTON, D. C. 

Writes speeches, books, pamphlets, etc., for any purpose 
mentioned, confldentally to order, cash in advance. For 
particulars enclose stamp and address as above. References 
furnished to yoti before sending your money, and satisfac- 
tion guaranteed. 



CHAPTEK VI. 

NUMBER OF WOLVES KILLED IN EACH COUNTY ANjl> 
RATE OF INCREASE. ONE ACRE OF HENS EQUAL 
TO 200 ACRES OF WHEAT. WHY WE ARE SHORT 
OF CATTLE. 

Where's the use of me and the president trying to protect 
wool and sheep with the democrats and wolves in cahoot 
against both? If the legislattire can fix the annual in- 
crease of wolves at 5, instead of 7 as nature and I fix it, 
why can't they require the cows to have two calves and so 
keep the ntiiaber of live stock even with the number of 
wolves, for as it is there are about as many of one as of 
the other — a, wolf at every stable door, and sheep-fold? The 
wolves must be fed, and yoti must raise the cattle, colts, 
sheep poultry and eggs to feed them or pay me and other 
hunters to kill the wolves. Choose ye which. 

I have done more to protect wool than all the wind jam- 
mers in congress. 

I append a table here giving the ntimber of wolves in 



26 Corhin's Advice; Or, 

each county and the rate of increase for the information 

x>f the legislature, county commissioners and stockmen: 

Barnes 1,130 

Benson 1,156 

Billings 12,848 

Bottineau 904 

Burleigh 2,704 

Cass 82 

Cavalier 1,480 

Dickey 1,788 

Eddy 484 

Emmons 2,208 

Foster 320 

Grand Forks 292 

Griggs 480 

Kidder 804 

LaMoure 968 

Logan 424 

McHenry 2,144 

Mcintosh 588 

McLean 8i58 

Mercer 1,380 

Morton 4,040 

Nelson 824 

Oliver 232 

Pembina 2,020 

Pierce 428 

Ramsey 544 

Ransom 540 

Richland 440 

Rolette 484 

Sargent 900 

Stark 6,000 

Steele : 212 

Stutsman 2,148 

Towner 124 

Traill 8 

Walsh 164 

Ward 2,800 

Wells 2,084 

Williams 4,044 



Total wolves in North Dakota. . . 60,000 

The above figures is for 1899; for 1900 there is 345,000, 
females 172,500; total 1,207,500; increase, 862,500. One 
of the proudest days of my life was when I was invited 
to speak before our state legislature on behalf of the wolf 
industry. If I had had $100,000 to pay for the vote for the 
senate, they could not have shown me more respect, because 
I suppose it was the first time they had ever heard an 
honest man there. 



The Wolf Hxmter^s Guide. 



Again when lately I drove with my hunting outfit through 
the city of Esimarck, and showed the staring denizens of 
that metropolis the fruits of my industry, I received such 
marked attention as a politician with a bag of gold in one 
hand and the constitution in the other might have been 
proud of. 

I count a poor day if I don't average four to seven. Last 
year I was on the road with my horse, buggy, dog and gun 
twenty-three days, killed eighty-five wolves; in 1898, 104 
in twenty-eight days, and in 1897, 148 in thirty-five days, 
during my hunting season, which is May and June. I used 
to hunt them with steel traps, but that is too slow, for this 
cunning animal is very wary of a trap. And as for hunting 
with gun alone, that is still slower, for it is almost im- 
possible to get a shot at a wolf the first time, and if you 
shoot one^ you are done then for sure. 

A gray wolf here means a timoer wolf, and twice as 
large as a prairie wolf or cayote. The cayote or prairie 
wolf is the one that does the devilment, catching calves, 
sheep and all kinds of poultry, while the timber wolves or 
long gray wolves kill horses, colts, 2-year-old steers. There 
are few of them east of the Missouri river, except in some 
of the northwestern counties of North Dakota. The stock- 
men there offer as high as .$5 a head for every wolf killed 
around their ranches. The wolf opens his eyes in nine 
days, but it has taken our people nine years to get their 
eyes open to this matter. The worst wolves I ever met 
yet are the two legged wolves in sheep's clothing. 

.Our legislature cut the bounty on old wolves from $3 
down to $2, and on kids $1, requiring the hunter to skin 
and bring in the skm and skull, and in case of a female, the 
whole carcass. It is pleasant company in my buggy in 
May and June, and if I could only have the commissioners 
and legislature in witn me a couple of hours they would 
dispense with these useless and oppressive requirements 
and ask me to bring in the scaip and ears only to get my 
bounty. Our county commissioners should go with me on 
my excursions and see a calf leg here, a sheep's leg there, 
wings of ducks, turkeys or chickens, etc., lying around at 
the mouth of every den. 

They often forget that the poultry and eggs of North 
Dakota are worth as much as any other crop, even wheat 
itself, and should take some measures to protect it and not 
waste all their sympathy on the Cubans and Philippines. 
Charity begins at home, here in North Dakota. 

If they would protect not only the game but domestic 
fowl, why not charge a license of $5 or $10 for hunting. 
Hundreds who never fired a gun would take out hunter's 
license to protect their poultry, etc., and the sums thus 
gathered could be applied to the bounty at large, and raise 
it to an amount that would pay us old hunters to extermi- 
nate these pests. 



28 Cor bin'' s Advice ; Or, 



Our legislature passed a law to make five a liter but the 
wolf gives no heed to it, and persists in multiplying the 
stock of wolves by seven. Pour hundred wolves in one of 
my adjoining counties, (county of Burleigh) were females 
and last year increased the crop to 3,000, i. e., 800 old ones, 
and 2,800 cubs, while the total number killed was only 150, 
and this year is a fair sample of how the work goes on all 
over the state. I could multiply examples but this is 
enough to set stockmen and farmers thinking until they 
begin to know that the only way to exterminate or even 
diminish this growing army of wolves is to offer a decent 
bounty. 

One thing is sure, the people pay the tax any way, if not 
to me, then to the wolves, the only difference being that I 
ask money but Mr. Wolf asks fresh mutton and beef, eggs, 
chickens and ducks for his pay. 

It must be paid one way or the other, only I ask not one 
tenth of what Mr. Wolf demands, and he don't need any 
law of the legislature nor neea he fetch in both ears and 
skull and carcass to get his pay. 

Statisticians are figuring on why we are short 2,000,000 
cattle. Why, the wolves got the calves. North Dakota 
with 345,000 wolves, of which 172,500 are females, produc- 
ing seven more annually, increasing the wolf population 
to 1, 212,000 by 1900 will soon settle all these problems for 
the farmers and stockmen oi this state. Why they 
haven't sense enough to know which end of the wolf the 
tail is on, or would they compel me to bring in the whole 
skin, and skull with both ears and tail on, and then fetch 
two respectable taxpayers to vouch for me that I killed 
the wolf in their county? By and by I expect them to 
demand the affidavits of a couple of old grey wolves them- 
selves, or some other equally folish impossibility. Some- 
times I fear there is a lobby of wolves in our legislature 
with wool on — over their eyes sure. If they had to have 
this loud smelling carcass around as I have for ten days 
to get it to the county seat for my bounty, they would 
smell something about as bad as their den does when it 
is selling a seat in the senate. 

I watch my own place so well that within five years 
past I have caught 400 wolves within seven miles of my 
house. They shant take my stock, no sir, if the court 
knows herself, and she thinks she do. 

In my buggy with my faithful shephard dog beside me, 
my gun in hand, and a gay cayote in a box uhder my seat, 
I drive out with a horse as steady as a clock whO' never 
minds the cock of a gun, and if I come home again you will 
see and smell something that will do your soul good, and 
that bad as it smells means fewer wolves but more live 
stock for North Dakota. 

No man can be successful who neglects his business, 
therefore I must raise the wolf bounty to $5 and $10, $5 
for sheep and $20 for calves. 



The Wolf Hunter^s Guide. 



29 



SHE PRODUCES OVER $500,000,000 EVERY YEAR— ONE 
ACRE OP HENS EQUALS 200 ACRES OF WHEAT. 
The latest government statistics prove that the poultry 
and eggs of the country are worth more every year than 
the combined value of corn, oats and hay. The egg pro- 
duct alone is worth three hundred million dollars per year. 
At the same time the American people have to import mil- 
lionp of dozens of eggs yearly to supply the demand. There 
is always a large profit in the poultry business and you 
should give it thoughtful consideration. 

ONE ACRE OP POULTRY CLEARS $1,000. 
A flock of thirteen hens will thrive in a yard twenty feet 
wide by fifty feet deep. In this way 500 hens can be suc- 
cessfully managed on one acre of ground. According to 
the management they will pay from $1 to $2 clear profit 
for each hen per year. This will give $500 'to $1,000 clear 
profit from one acre of hens. 

ONE ACRE OP WHEAT CLEARS $5.00. 
The farmer who makes a clear profit of $5 per acre from 
wheat is extremely successful, as most of farmers do not 
make that. But allowing a profit of $5 per acre for wheat, 
you will find one acre of hens to give as much profit as 
200 acres of wheat. This is equally true of corn, with 
slight variations. 




THE PRIDE OF THE BARNYARD 

Note — We are indebted for this fine picture of a pair of 
Rose Combed White Leghorns to Mr. Peter P. Pormoe of 
Bismarck, who raises this breed and the Silver Laced Wy- 
andottes. 



30 • Corhiii's Advice ; Or, 



CHAPTER VII. 

THE GREAT SHEEP AND CATTLE RANGES OF THE 
WEST. SOMETHING ABOUT THE CHEAP LANDS 
FOR WHICH I AM AGENT. 

The great sheep ranges and cattle ranches of the mighty- 
west have no enemy so dangerous and costly as the wolf. 
He is to the flocks and herds what the Indian once was to 
the lonely scattered settlers, and that brute instinct, cun- 
ning intelligence or whatever it may be is of a very high 
order, much more cunning and wise than man's wisdom 
in many respects. If it requires years in college to learn 
something of the human mind, it requires even longer and 
closer study in the college of the parirle and mountain to 
learn the ways of the wolf, the most cunning animal, except 
the fox, and his equal altogether. A tenderfoot might hunt 
wolves till the cows come home, and never catch one, and 
go back east feeling mighty lucky if they did not catch, 
him. The busy farmer and stockman have no time or 
patience to hunt wolves. That is a business of itself, and 
requires half a life time to acquire it. 

I have devoted my life to it, have studied it, practiced it, 
till I have it down fine^ and believe I should be paid for 
telling others what it took me so long to learn. That is 
one of the objects of this book. The doctor charges you 
for his presciptions, and the lawyer for advice, and the 
clergyman for counsel, even if you are nO' better off when 
they are done — you pay all the same. And so if I, an old 
hunter, known through the entire west as the Boss Wolf 
Killer, teach you something of my craft, you will not com- 
plain ii I ask you to shell out! That is plain talk with the 
bark on, and I mean every word, for I assure you I don't 
print the book for fun, nor for my health, for I am as merry 
as a lark and have health out here to burn. 

I wish I could get a lot of you pale faced eastern boys 
out here on these plains and prairies and mountains. I'd 
put roses in your cheeks and money in your pockets, with- 
out the aid of any doctor but good old Mother Nature, with 
her sweet breath and glorious exercise. Throw physic to 
the dogs and come here, and let your life have a chance to 
develop and throw off disease — and laziness. 

Here in the west it is root hog or die, and you must work 
or starve, and once I showed you one of these free lovely 
homesteads over which I have hunted for years, you will 



The Wolf Hunter's Guide 31 

pitch your tent to stay, and bless the day you first met 
plain, bluff old Ben Corbin. Send me a letter and I will 
tell you all you wish to know. 

FREE HOMES IN NORTH DAKOTA. 

GOVERNMENT LAND FREE— There are 20,385,293 acres 
of unoccupied government land in North Dakota open for 
entry, free under the homestead laws. Of these 11,960,433 
acres are unsurveyed, and 9,424,860 unsurveyed, according 
to the government land commissioner's report August 1, 
1897. 

RAILROAD LANDS— The Northern Pacific Railway 
Company has 6,700,000 acres of desirable grazing and agri- 
cultural lands in North Dakota for sale at prices ranging 
from $1.00 to $5.00 per acre, and on five and ten years' 
time at 6 per cent, if desired. 

A WORD TO SETTLERS— Remember that North Dakota 
has one great and paramount advantage, viz: That it con- 
tains immense areas of easily tilled soil ready for the plow. 
No clearing of trees or removing of stumps is necessary. 
The land lies open in broad fertile expanses awaiting culti- 
vation. Crops can be raised as soon as the first sod is 
turned. The settler can^ the first year, raise potatoes, 
oats, wheat, corn and vegetables enough for his own home 
consumption. 

DON'T WAIT — Now is the time to buy a good home in 
the west, as good western lands will never be as cheap 
again as they are now. Homeseekers will not find our 
country as settlers did fifty years' ago. They won't have 
to travel for months in covered wagons to find a house. 
They will have the best of railroad facilities to carry them 
right through the finest farming country in the United 
States. 

CORBIN'S HOTEL is delightfully situated on the banks 
of the Missouri River near Glencoe, Emmons county, N. D., 
and is twenty miles south of Bismarck. Headquarters for 
sportsmen and v/olf hunters. Catfish, taken fresh from 
the historic Missouri River served every day; 

RENTERS, LOOK INTO OUR WESTERN LANDS.— The 
amount of rent you pay to eastern landlords would buy 
you a home within the limits of our land. Don't remain 
in an old settled country, where you are always paying 
rent, frequently for exhausted lands, and scarcely make a 
living. Come west where your time and labor will pay 
for a farm. We should not spend our time and money to 
show you homes if we did not know we have what you 
want. We can raise the very best of wheat, corn, oats, 
hay, potatoes and produce of all kinds on these lands. 
Our lands are situated in the healthiest portion of the 
United States. I have lived in Emmons county for fifteen 
years. Remember if you get a claim with hay and water 
on it, you then have the world by the tail; and you can 
then get the rest without trouble. I can settle ten families 



32 Co)'bin''s Advice ; Or, 



a day from now till next September, on government and 
railroad lands. For parLiculars address Benj. Cor bin, 
Glencoe, N. D. 

STATISTICAL MAP. 

H. U. Thomas, commissioner of agriculture and labor, 
has issued a statistical map of North Dakota from a study 
of which much valuable information may be obtained. 
The area of North Dakota is given as 73,312 square miles; 
population estimated, 300,000; miles of railroads, 2,979; 
number of post offices, 590; newspapers published, 150; ex- 
pended for support of public schools, 1898, $1,131,530; num- 
ber of schools, 2,333; value of school property, $2,132,739; 
assessed valuation of real and personal property, 1899, 
$114,334,428; capital invested in banking, $16,599,110. 



Stark county shows up on the map in good snape. The 
county is credited with having in vacant government lands 
2,486,800 acres; land under cultivation, 41,765 acres. In 
1898 there were raised in the county 379,309 bushels of 
wheat, 2,890 of flax, 53,2()0 of oats, 5,134 of barley, 1,274 of 
rye, 7,480 of corn, 14,820 of poitatoes. Live stock sold dur- 
ing 1898 1,111,575. Assessed valuation of real and personal 
property, 1899, $2,296,838. 



LINCOLN AS A HORSE TRADER. 

The preceding incident leads to another, in which Mr. 
Lincoln himeslf figures as a horse trader. The scene is a 
very humerous one, and, as usual in an encounter of wit, 
Mr. Lincoln came out ahead. He and a certain judge once 
got to bantering one another about trading horses; and it 
was agreed that the next morning at 9 o'clock they should 
make a tiade^ the horses to be unseen up to that hour — 
and no back out, under a forfeit of $25. At the hour 
appointed, the judge came up, leading the sorriest-looking 
specimen of a nag ever seen in those parts. In a few 
minutes Mr. Lincoln was seen approaching with a wooden 
saw-horse upon his shoulders. Great were the shouts and 
the laughter of the crowd; and these increased, when Mr. 
Lincoln, surveying the judge's animal, set down his saw- 
horse, and exclaimed: "Weil, Judge, this is the first time 
I ever got the worst of it in a horse trade!" 

PATENTS APPLIED FOR. 

I have applied for patents on two dinguses that I have 
invented. One is a double- oack-action wolf exterminator, 
a description of which I will give at some future time. The 
other invention is a flubdub for opening the eyes of editors 



The Wolf Hunter's Guide. 33 



and county officials to the necessity of paying a good 
bounty and getting the wolves killed off. There will be 
a machine of extra strength for the county board, whose 
eyes are now closed tighter than ever. 

The Corbin house is now open for stoppers. Terms $1 
per day. 

Stop at the Corbin Hotel and hear the catfisn ring the 
dinner bill. No whisky, no beer. When I want anything 
fresh I kill a deer. 

No blind pig to squeal in the night and wake you up in 
a terrible fright. 



The farmer who neglects sheep stands in his own light. 
They are so peaceable and we^l-disposed, and so easy to 
keep that the money they make is only a secondary matter. 
Wool and mutton are always in demand, and never yet has 
the price been too low to leave a profit, although a good 
many sheep breeders got scared and sold their flocks a few 
years ago, thinking that unprofitable prices were coming. 
Sheep are better than mining stock to the farmer with a 
weedy farm, and to the good farmer they are as good as 
money in the pocket. 



METHOD IN THE SHEEP BUSINESS. 

It is said that representatives of tue American-English, 
syndicate have been in western North Dakota and Montana 
aii summer and fall, traveling over the large sheep raising 
sections, securing options on the best sheep ranches and 
best watered land for the purpose of consolidating them 
into one large company. Already options on nearly 500-, 
000 head of sheep and 500,000 acres of the finest and most 
fertile sheep raising land in Montana have been obtained. 
The representatives of the syndicate in Montana are both 
old, experienced and successful sheep men. The company 
will be known as the Montana Consolidated Sheep and 
Land company, with a capital of .$10,0(XJ,000. 

The company will seek to improve the sheep industry 
of the northwest. Experienced sorters, graders and pack- 
ers will be in charge at the various shearing plants, so 
as to have the wool in shape on tae market, commanding 
ready sales and high prices. Instead of sending sheep to 
other states to be fattened, the company will get them in 
proper condition for the market and begin feeding upon 
alfalfa, which is grown in large quantities upon many of 
their splendid properties, which is acknowledged to be the 
finest sheep food grown. Scouring plants, woolen mill, etc., 
are among the possibilities with the company, and the busi- 
ness is to be handled in such a way as to attain the best 
results based upon years of experience of others, as well 
as those interested in the company. 



k 



34 Corbiti's Advice ; Or, 



CHAPTER VIII. 



NUMBER OF WOLVES IN EACH COUNTY AND 
AMOUNT OF TAXES PAID. WHAT ONE MILL ON 
THE DOLLAR WOULD RAISE. NECESSITY OF 
GREATER LEVY. 

The following are the number of wolves killed in this 
state, by counties, together with bounty fund taxes from 
each county here represented, as shown by the "State 
Bounty Register," from January, 1897, to November 30, 

1898: 

Counties No. Wolves Amount 

Barnes 282 $292.63 

Benson 289 85.50 

Billings 3,212 40.85 

Bottineau 496 59.20 

Burleigh 551 quw qu 

Cass 23 829.55 

Cavalier 370 132.79 

Dickey 447 165.08 

Eddy 1-J 49.18 

Emmons 507 32.64 

Foster 80 76.54 

Grand Forks 73 574. 80 

Griggs 120 100.39 

Kidder 201 42.43 

LaMoure 242 172.25 

Logan 106 29.61 

McHenry 536 17.92 

Mcintosh 147 51.25 

McLean 217 40.77 

Mercer 345 23.38 

Morton 1,010 154.13 

Nelson 206 135.87 

Oliver 58 23.51 

Pembina 255 302.59 

Pierce 107 25.23 

Ramsey 136 125.58 

Ransom 135 133.60 

Richland 121 440.62 



The Wolf Hunter^s Guide. 35 

Counties No. Wolves Amount 

Rolette 475 46.26 

Sargent 142 114.71 

Stark 1,500 127.24 

Steele 53 191.24 

Stutsman 537 251 .40 

Towner 31 56.28 

Traill 2 406.66 

Walsh 41 413.30 

Ward 575 96.70 

Wells 546 107.42 

Williams 911 35.89 



Total 15,211 $6,207.31 

Since the above table was obtained written orders for 
about 1,000 wolf scalps have been received by the state 
auditor from various counties listed above. 

Now there is another feature of this matter that deserves 
a little attention and that is the size of the bounty. It is 
no trick to catch young wolves, for a hunter who has made 
a life study of the subject as I have done. I have made' 
it my business since I have been in the country, and I 
know just how to do it. But neitner is it any trick for a 
doctor to make a professional call and charge .$2 for it, or 
for a lawyer to give a bit of advice and charge $10 for 
five minutes talk. And in a good many cases the doctor's 
advice does no good and the lawyer's talk only gets you 
into more trouble. But it is different with the wolf hunter. 
Every time he catches a wolf he saves you money. He 
saves you a calf or a sheep, or a turkey or something that. 
is a direct benefit. He never fails to do you some good. 
And he does not get paid unless he does catch a wolf. He 
has to do some good to the stockmen before he gets any 
money. The doctor and the lawyer have made a study of 
their business and they get paid for what they know. Why 
should not the wolf hunter who has made a life study of 
his business get paid for what he knows and does. He 
knows how to catch wolves and he goes out and catches 
them. He is just as important to the stock grower as the 
doctor or the lawyer or any other man who does nothing 
and gets a big fee. The ditrerence is that he does a great 
deal and gets a small fee. He saves thousands of dollars 
to the stockmen, and gets a small bounty. And yet he is 
the most important member of tne community, for if he 
does not do his work, the wolves eat up the cattle and 
sheep and the stockmen have to go out of business. A 
small bounty will do no good. An experienced wolf hunter 
will not go out and work hard for a measly little fee, and 
then discout his warrants to get money. The small 
bounty is all right for the young wolves, for an experienced 
wolf hunter will catch a whole litter of them at once and 



36 Carbines Advice ; Or 



make something out of it, but if you want the old wolves 
killed off, something that takes hard work and does more 
good than killing off 100 young ones, put a higher bounty 
on them. Put a bounty of $5 or even $10 on old wolves, 
and shut off the wolf supply factory. No hunter will work 
to kill an old wolf for $2 when he can in the same time 
kill half a dozen young ones and get $1 apiece for them. 
But if you make it an object for him to kill the old ones, 
he will clean them out, and then there will be no young 
ones, at $1 apiece. Handle this question in a business-like 
fashion. Every stockman in the county is just as much 
interested in this mater as I am. i make a bare living 
at the business, and yet I keep the woives cleaned out so 
that you can make a fortune in the stock business in a few 
years. It is to get scientific wolf hunters to make a busi- 
ness of destroying them. It should be the aim of the 
stockmen to pay enough bounty to make the object of ex- 
perienced hunters to devote their time to killing off wolves. 
Other states pay big bounties. In many places the stock- 
men pay a side bounty for all wolves killed on their range. 
Nebraska has been trying to get some man who will de- 
vote his time to this wolf business and clean the wolves 
out, but they can't get anyone, for the reason that wolf 
killing is a science and there are only a few of us who 
know how to kill them. The stockmen of Emmons county 
have all the benefit of my long experience in killing 
wolves, the very thing the Nebraska stockmen would like 
to have, and yet they, or rather some of them, do not 
want to pay a small amount for my work. In Nebraska 
the big cattlemen make all the cowboys ride the range to 
shoot the wolves. I kill off whole families of them before 
they get big enough to kill off stock. If this is not a good 
thing for the stockmen here, they do not know what is 
best for them. 

CIRCULAR ON THE WOLF INDUSTRY. 

Benjamin Corbin, the boss wolf hunter of North Dakota, 
who has caught more wolves than any other man in the 
northwest, if not in the United States, says that now is 
the time his crop is being cultivated. Corbin figures every 
female wolf as a farmer figures an acre of ground to be 
sowed for a yield of grain. When the wolf bounty is taken 
off for a time the female wolves increase in numbers, and 
that, according to his calculations, gives him so many 
more acres to count upon. The female wolves produce 
annually seven young ones. When the bounty is placed 
on the wolves again, when they become so numerous that 
they threaten the existence of the stock industry, Corbin 
locates all these families of young ones and in many cases 
catches the entire family in one night without putting out 
an ounce of poison or firing a shot. How he does it is 



.'I 



The Wolf Hunter's Guide. 37 

secret which it would pay any wolf hunter well to find 
out, and which may be done if proper arrangements are 
made with Mr. Corbin, whose address is Glencoe, N. D. 
Counting every female wolf as an acre of land would be 
counted by a farmer, seven young ones at $3 bounty each 
produces a revenue to Mr. Corbin of $21 an acre — a far 
more profitable business than farming when the bounty is 
taken off the old wolves through false economy, and the 
young ones are allowed to grow until they become so 
numerous that catching them is easy. 

I have hunted wolves in this state for nine years, and 
have caught and killed more of them than any other man 
in the northwest. I know all their habits and the amount 
of damage they do, and I know that if the bounty is taken 
off them they will over run the state and ruin the stock 
industry. Every time the bounty .s taken off the wolves 
increase and when it is placed back on them it takes so 
much longer to cut the number down to what it was before. 

The best thing for the interests of the state and of the 
stock raisers, in my opinion, would be to put an increased 
bounty on the female wolves in the breeding season — say 
from the first of February to the first of June. That is 
the time the killing of the females will do the greatest 
good, for the females have an average of seven pups each, 
and if the old wolf is killed it prevents the bearing of that 
additional number of young ones. As soon as these young 
ones are born they are trapped and killed and $3 each is 
paid for them in loounty, making a total of $21 in bounty 
that has to be paid, where it could be avoided by the pay- 
ment of $10 on the old wolf in the breeding season. 

Out of the breeding season put a bounty ot $5 on the 
old w.olf. This will be an inducement to kill the old wolves 
at all times and will result in cutting down the number 
that are born annually. If the burden is too heavy for the 
state let the state pay half the bounty and the county pay 
half, each county to pay the proportion of the bounty for 
the wolves killed within its borders. 

Put a bounty of $10 on the female wolves in the breeding 
season and $5 the year round. Let each county pay half 
the bounty and the state pay the other half. 

o 

THE FAMILY COW. 

She's broad in her hips and long in her rump, 
A straight and flat back without even a hump. 
She's wide in her lips and calm in her eyes, 
She's fine in her shoulders and thin in her thighs, 
She's sleight in her neck and small in her tail. 
She's wide in her breast and good at the pail: 
She's fine in her Done and silky of skin, 
She's a grazier without and a butcher within. 



38 Corhiyi's Advice ; Or, 



CHAPTER IX. 

LOCATING THE WOLF. DEN. THE BENEFIT OF THE 
WOLF BOUNTY. A CORRESPONDENT'S DESCRIP- 
TION OF MY WOLF FARM. 

The wolves howl every evening when they leave the den. 
They ao the same thing in the morning. That howl is 
music to my ears, and death to theirs. I go to the ranch- 
man, and ask, "Have you any wolves here?" Back 
comes the reply of ignorance "No sir, plenty of cayotes 
but no wolves." A cayote is a wolf, and I now know what 
next to ask. "How often do you see them?" "Every 
morning and evening." "Do they do any damage?" "O 
yes, they caught three turkeys here — one on her nest al- 
most ready to hatch — they suck eggs, and they even caught 
the old rooster and four hens, just over there west of the 
hill." 

I am almos-t sure, now I will ask a question or two more, 
and clinch it like a Philadelphia lawyer. "Where do you 
first hear them in the morning?" "Over there," pointing 
with the finger. "Where is the roughest, rockiest, hilly 
ground?" It is pointed out to me. This information 
which seems so simple to you gives me all the clue I need, 
so off I go. Why, I know the den is not half a mile off, and 
just at what point of the compass. I drive right there as 
straight as a bee files to its hive, with my dog tied to the 
end of my ten-foot pole. The wolves come out to look at 
the dog, and if they follow me, I locate the den at once. 
of meat, and the plant is then left over nighi. 

I take a shot the first chance and get one or both of the 
wolves. If, however, the wolves are shy and keep at a dis- 
tace, I wait for night, and set my dog after the old ones, 
and then drive past the den. This will fetch the old one 
to the den, if the cubs are too young to come out, otherwise 
she will stay away. The surest time to shoot the old ones 
and hook or spear the young ones in the den is when they 
are too small to leave the den. I have referred to this 
elsewhere and need not repeat. I fool away no time on 
the old ones however, for I get .$1 for each cub, and only 
$2 for the adults, and so I take the old ones if I can 
easily, otherwise I gather in the cubs and pass on. 

Out of 1,500 wolves I have killed the past nine years, 
not more than sixty-one were grown up. 



The Wolf Hunter's Guide. 39 

I have twenty old females on my farm of twenty-five 
miles square that have cost the people from $150 to $200 
each in the last nine years, when they could have got rid 
of the whole twenty for $100 or even less money, by offer- 
ing an inducement for their capture. In 1807, I caught 
twenty-one litters of wolves, averaging seven to the litter. 
I kill about one old wolf for every twenty young ones. I 
spot the same old pair every year, get the increase and let 
the old ones go free. I particularize five old wolves whose 
offspring I have caught every year. These five wolves 
have cost on bounty $945 and are still alive and well. 

Don't this demonstrate that it would be economy to pay 
a bounty of $10? You must kill more than 1,000 a day to 
exterminate the 343,000 in North Dakota within one year, 
as it is done now the wolves are on the increase in a ratio 
that must startle any thinking man concerned in the 
honorable business of raising wool, mutton, beef, poultry, 
butter and eggs for the market, for the wolves get the 
most of it now. It costs you half a million dollars a year 
to starve out the poor hunter with niggardly bounty, and 
hamper and feed the wolves with the finest and best of 
your flocks and herds. 

Any one interested can easily prepare himself for the 
business of wolf hunting for $25 under my personal in- 
struction in a thousand matters I can put in no books, and 
that no book can teach. A ride with Uncle Ben, a few 
weeks at my fireside will cost you nothing, and before you 
leave my college you will drop me a $25 and get your 
diploma as W. H. L. L., which means doctor of wolf hun- 
ters. No other college can confer the degree — no other uni- 
versity than my open prairies, grand woods, and crystal 
streams, where the air is pure, the sunlight clear, and 
nature's open book before us teaches all you need to know 
for wolf hunters. 

' BENEFITS OF THE WOLF BOUNTY. 

The wolf bounty question is a serious one for the stock- 
men of the western part of this state. It is serious be- 
cause wolves increase rapidly, and if they are not kept 
thinned out by experienced wolf hunters, the time will 
have to come when the stockmen will be forced to leave 
the business or conduct it at a loss. At present the free 
range and free grass afford the stockmen the greatest 
natural opportunities in the world. The wolf is their 
principal enemy, and it would seem to be the part of wis- 
dom for them to kill the enemy or make it an object for 
other men to do so. 

Wolves increase much faster than people suppose who 
do not know the animals. They multiply at the rate of 
600 to 800 per cent a year. An old she wolf in one year 
will bear half a dozen or more young ones, and in another 



40 Corbin^s Advice ; Or, 



year every one of these will be large enougJi to do as much 
damage as the old one. If these young wolves are trapped 
or shot, and put out of the way, the stockmen are safe, 
except from the old one. But if they are allowed to run 
at large — if no bounty is paid and they are not killed — in 
a year or two they will be breeding and raising young 
and the first thing you know the prairie is overrun with 
wolves and the stockmen and farmers find their calves 
dead on the range, and their profits eaten up by the pests. 

Just to show how wolves multiply, I will state that in 
the past nine years I have caught 300 pups from five old 
wolves. Suppose those pups had not been caught — sup- 
pose there had been no bounty and they had been allowed 
to grow unmolested. Half of them would have been 
females and at the rate of increase there would have been 
thousands of wolves from the five old ones, where I kept 
the number down to the original five. 

Now the one thousand wolves^ — put the increase at that 
number — will do as much damage as the profits of several 
big stockmen will amount to in a year. If I had killed 
off what would have produced that number I have saved 
the farmers and stockmen thousands of dollars. At $3 
a head, I got $000 for those 300 wolves. Does it look as 
though I was giving the stockmen the worth of their 
money or not? 

Now these wolves were killed .on a little piece of land 
twenty-four miles square. Last year I caught 148 wolves 
in thirty-five days on the same land. Suppose the same 
ratio of wolves were found all over the prairies in the 
state. 

There are 50,000 square miles of lana in the western part 
of the state and wolves are found- on a large number of 
miles of it. Let them increase at the rate I have shown 
and the stockmen will have to increase the bounty or quit 
the stock business. But if enough bounty is paid right 
along to encourage a few experienced wolf hunters to 
stay in the business and clean out the increase, with as 
many of the old wolves as can be killed, the wolf question 
will eventually settle itself, for a race of animals must 
either increase or die out altogether — it cannot stand still, 
I believe the stockmen of this country are in favor of kill- 
ing off the wolf tribe altogether. But they will never 
succeed by offering a bounty one year and taking it off the 
next. For the wolves will increase enough in one year, 
if they are not killed off, to make up for several years 
when they have been killed for the bounty. Pay a bounty 
right along until the wolves are killed off. 

In the past nine years I have caught some 1.100 wolves. 
On an average I have received Jj^S a head for them. That 
is a total of $3,300. I have aiscounted the warrants from 
time to time, so my actual receipts are much less than 
this. But surely these wolves would have done $10 damage 



The Wolf Hunter''s Guide. 41 

apiece it they had lived, not counting what damage would 
have been done by their increase, and that alone is $10,000, 
all of which would have come out of the farmers and stock- 
men. I have received a little over $3,000, and I have saved 
the stockmen $10,000. Does that look as though I were 
beating anybody on the wolf bounty? Does it not rather 
show that an experienced wolf hunter is a man whom the 
stockmen should pay well to keep in the stock country. 

CORBIN'S WOLF BARM. 

One of the most picturesque and interesting characters 
in the western part of this state is Ben Corbin of Glencoe, 
Emmons county, known all over the state as the "boss wolf 
hunter." Corbin has made a life study of wolf trapping 
and as a result has caught more wolves than possibly any 
other hunter in the northwest. He is accustomed to com- 
pute his season's catch by hundreds, and as the bounty 
on the animals ranges from $3 to $5 a head, according to 
the county in which they are caught, he makes a good liv- 
ing at wolf trapping alone. 

Corbin is a Virginian by birth and has been a hunter 
and trapper all his life. Every season, when the wolves 
give birth to their young, he is early on the trail of the 
animals, and in the territory of twenty-five square miles 
he manages to keep the young ones pretty well cleaned 
out. The old ones he does not often touch. His reason for 
sparing them is a selfish one, and yet natural. He says: 
*'I have practically all the wolf dens in my locality spotted 
and knew where to find them every year. The litter of a 
female wolf ranges from five to nine wolves, and as I catch 
the whole litter every year each female wolf is worth $15 
to $30 a year to me, as I get $3 each for the young wolves. 
If I kill the old one I deprive myself of this revenue." 
This is the argument that Corbin makes to the county com- 
missioners and the state for a larger bounty on old female 
wolves. He says if a bounty of $10 each were offered for 
the old female wolves they would be killed, where at 
present they are spared by wolf hunters out of considera- 
tion for the revenue they bring in the shape of young ones. 
In the past nine years Corbin has kept an account of five 
old wolves in the territory over which he has hunted and 
he says he has received nearly $1,000 in the shape of 
bounty on the young they have produced. This he calls 
reducing the wolf bounty business to a science. 

Corbin's methods of catching young wolves is one which 
he devised himself, and which, so far as known, is em- 
ployed by no other wolf hunter in the state. The ordinary 
methods of killing the animals are by shooting them, by 
poisoning them and by hunting them with dogs. But all 
of these methods are open to objection. Poison is no 
longer a favorite method, for the reason that the wolves 



42 Corbin's Advice ; Or 



after a time become suspicious and refuse to touch the 
poison that is set for them. There is also the ODjection 
that the poison becomes scattered over the grass by the 
rain and wind and cattle eat of the poisoned grass and 
die. Shooting the wolves is difficult, for the reason that 
the animals are wary. Hunting them with dogs is ex- 
cellent sport, but unprofitable occupation for the profes- 
sional wolf hunter, for the reason that the catches average 
at best only one or two wolves a day. Corbin's method 
overcomes all these difficulties and objections, and is as 
sim^ple as ABC, He catches the young wolves with 
fishhooks and a steel line, and has been known to land 
eight young wolves on the same line in one night. 

The wolves live in dens in the earth, after the manner 
of badgers, except that the dens are larger. When Corbin 
locates the den, he waits until night and then brings his 
fishing line and hooks into play. The steel line is fastened 
to a stout stake driven into the ground and is then carried 
beneath the soil through the region immediately about 
the den. From the main wire are numerous smaller wires 
projecting in all directions, to the end of each of which is 
a spring fishhook. These hooks are baited with good- 
sized pieces of chicken breast or other tempting morsels 

When the young wolves leave the den at night to prowl 
about in search of food the first thing they encounter is 
these scattered bits of meat. The wolf is a ravenous an- 
imal, and bolts small bits of meat whole. The young ones 
attack these bits of meat and swallow them, snap goes the 
bolted spring hook, and the wolf is fast. Every effort 
made by the wolf to get away adds tO' the pain inflicted by 
the hook, which has found lodgment in his stomach or 
throat, and he soon learns that absolute quiet is the best 
method under the circumstances. Not infrequently Cor- 
bin returns to the den in the morning to find every one 
of the young wolves caught on the spring hooks. The 
steel wire prevents their biting it in two and escaping in 
this fashion, and as the animals are all securely fastened, 
it is no difficult task to knock them in the head with a 
club, take their scalps and leave the bodies for the buzz- 
ards. 

This process is repeated at every den which may be 
discovered by the hunter, and seldom without success. 
Hundreds of young wolves are caught every season, and 
their scalps brought in for the bounty. The same ground 
is gone over every season, with the same results, and 
Corbin pockets annually hundreds of dollars as the result 
of his ingenuity. He has endeavored to have the fishhook 
and line patented as a means of catching wolves but the 
patent office does not consider an old device patentable 
as applied to a new end, and he has been unable to secure 
a patent. 

Corbin makes some calculations of the number of wolves 



The Wolf Hunter'' s Guide. 43 

in the western part of the state which are startling to 
stockmen. He claims that from tne number of wolves 
he has caught on twenty-five square miles of territory, 
if the same number exists on every other equal section 
of territory, and it is reasonable to suppose there is, there 
are 300,000 wolves in the western part of the state, and the 
annual damage they do to cattle and all stock interests 
is enormous. But so long as the bounty is the same on 
old wolves as young, he says the wolf hunters will 
content themselves with killing as many young wolves 
as they can, without harming the old ones, and there will 
be no perceptible advance made in the diminution of the 
original number of wolves. 

FIXING THE TAX LEVY. 

Mr. Carlblom moved that the state tax levy to defray 
the general expenses of the state for the current year be 
fixed at the specific sum of four hundred and thirty-one 
thousand eight hundred and eighteen dollars, ($431,- 
818.00) being at the rate of three and eight-tenths (3.8) 
mills on the dollar of the assessed valuation of all taxable 
property in the state as equalized by the state board of 
equalization for the year 1899. 

That the state tax levy to pay interest on the state debt 
for the current year be fixed at the sum of fifty-six 
thousand eight hundred and eighteen dollars ($56,818.00) 
being at the rate of five-tenths (.5) of one mill on the 
dollar of the assessed valuation of all taxable property 
in the state as equalized by the state board of equaliza- 
tion for the year 1899; and, 

That the special tax levy for the payment of wolf 
bounties be fixed at the specific sum of twenty-two thou- 
sand seven hundred and twenty-seven dollars (.$22,7:27.00) 
being at the rate of two-tenths (.2) of one mill on the 
dollar of the assessed valuation of all taxable property 
in the state as equalized by the state board of equalization 
for the year 1899. 

Valuation of all property within the state of North Da- 
kota as fixed by the state board of equalization: 

Real property $ 72,110,0o9 

Personal property 25,209,411 

Railroad Property 17,'oi4,'908 

Total valuation of state $ 114,334,428 

LEVY. 

Mills 
General 3.8 

Bond interest .5 

Wolf bounty ,2 

Total 4,5 



44 Corbin's Advice ; Or, 



CHAPTER X. 

SIGNS IN WOLF HUNTING. HOW IT CAN BE MADE 
MORE PROFITABLE THAN STOCK RAISING. MY 
TREATMENT BY THE LEGISLATURE OF 1898. 

LETTER FROM A STOCK RAISER. 

Uncle Ben Corbin nas a book in press and — strange 
as it may appear to those who know the trouble that it is 
to get the renowned author to converse on the subject 
of wolves — the book is devoted entirely to that branch of 
natural history. In a recent letter to the Record Col. 
Corbin says: 

'"Ever since word got out that I was writing a book 
on 'Wolfology' I have been receiving many letters wanting 
to know what I would take to tell them how I catch so 
many wolves, and for that reason I have issued a circular 
stating that the book will be out about April 20 — in time 
to help move the 1900 crop. I have given notice that 
Benjamin Corbin, general manager of the state of North 
Dakota and superintendent oi the wolf industry of the 
west, has called a convention to be known as 'The Wolf 
Convention,' to try to work up some plan to destroy the 
8G2,.500 young wolves which will be the increase for the 
present year, and also to get away with as many old wolves 
as possible. Everybody that eats meat or wears woolen 
clothes or leather shoes is interested. 

"There has nothing turned up around Glencoe more than 
has happened heretofore. The river is still rising and is 
full of — (Here the writer's pen sort o' slipped, and we 
cannot exactly say whether the colonel intended to write 
'ice' or 'geese.' — Ed. Record.) 

"I have stalk to to let on shears. These stalk is all 
climated, and their ancestors settled in this country be- 
fore Gen. Lounsberry or Cox. Jewell. The stalk was raised 
here and is healthy and in good order. They never die 
with black leg or game leg or any other kind of a leg. Yon 
don't have to feed 'em any ihay. If you have a chicken or 
a turkey or a lam or a caf, my stalk will take care of it 
for you. The dry weather doesn't affect my crop, and a 
wet season is all the better. All you need to start with is 
about twenty head, and in a couple of years you can dig 
about twenty dens each year. Twenty miles square is 
enough for one man to manage. It is easy work as all 



The Wolf Hunter's Guide. 45 

you have to do is to gather the increase when it is ripe — 
in May or June. It doesn't make any difference which 
one you kill, for it is a well-known scientific fact that wolves 
are different from other insects, and that either sex can 
have pups. 

"I furnish all the stalk and teach all you want to know; 
but you will have to stay with me two weeks to learn all 
the science, and for the two weeks' board I charge you $15, 
and at the end of your time you git your diplomy as a 
'wolfologist.'" 

Signed BUJN CORBIN, 

Superintendent of the Wolf Industry of the State of North 
Dakota. 

CORBIN BEFORE THE LEGISLATURE. 

Immediately after the committee of the whole of the 
house had risen yesterday, Mr. Stevens moved that the 
privileges of the floor be extended to Ben Corbin, "the boss 
wolf hunter of North Dakota," in order to give him an 
opportunity to explain the wolf question from a practical 
standpoint. The motion prevailed and Mr. Stevens was 
appointed to escort the famous wolf scalper to the speaker's 
stand. The committee was not long in finding the eccen- 
tric slayer of wolves and wnen he was piloted through the 
swing doors of the house he was greeted with cheers loud 
and long. In his left hand he carried a valise of uncertain 
age while a three-months beard protected his face from the 
slope's winter breezelet. 

Once landed upon the speaker's stand the wolf hunter 
began his remarks by saying that it was probably the first 
time in the history of the state, when an honest man had 
addressed the members from the stand. (Laughter.) 

"There are three kinds of wolves, ladies and gentlemen 
in this state, the gray wolf, the coyote and the two-legged 
wolf. The two-legged wolves are the county cimmission- 
ers who knock off bounty. (Laughter.) 

I have hunted wolves forty years and nine years in Da- 
kota. I know their habits and know the great damage 
they do to the stock interests of the state. 

The speaker closed as follows: 

"Now the whole matter in a nutshell is simply this: 
Does it pay the stockmen better to save .$3 or $4 in extra 
taxes each year for a wolf bounty and lose $20 or $30 worth 
of stock from the wolves? Does it pay the merchant to 
save the price of a safe to keep his money in and lose all 
of it the first time a burglar enters his store at night? 
Hj The principle is the same. For instance, Emmons county 
«^' has GOO wolves and if it takes a pound of beef a day to 
feed each one it costs the stockmen $15 a day at 2% cents 
a pound. Burleigh county has 800 wolves and it" would 
cost $20 a day at the same figures. Morton county has 



46- Corbin^s Advice ; Or, 



1,500 wolves, or an expense to the stockmen of $37.50 a 
day. North Dakota with 100,000 wolves would contribute 
every day beef to the value of .$2,500 to feed them. There 
are 290,000 sheep and 890,000 cattle in North Dakota. How 
long will they last?" 

The number of 2-year-old steers necessary to feed the 
wolves for one year is 81,111 head. Thanking you, ladies 
and gentlemen, for your close attention and your bad be- 
havior, I am yours as ever, Ben Corbin, the wolf hunter. 



Remember, the wolf is cunning and sly and hard to catch. 
Novices and amateurs have no business with the wolf, un- 
less they are first instructed in the habits of the animals 
and the mode of their capture. The wily brute will 
^'laugh" at them. It takes an expert hunter to catch the 
wolf, and this, in plain English, he cannot be unless the 
state pays a bounty to reimburse and make a reasonable 
profit for the man who has paid an expert to teach him 
the secrets of the business and explain to him the "signs" 
left by the animals, without a knowledge of which wolf 
hunting as an occupation would be unremunerative. 

Sheep cannot increase in a ratio of more than 2 to 1 an- 
nually, while the wolf population is augmented by from 
600 to 800 per cent each year, and in a little while there 
will be overwhelming numbers of them unless the work of 
destruction is vigorously encouraged and prosecuted. It 
matters little to the hunters where the pay comes from, 
so that ic comes sure; but without it, certain it is, that 
the necessary work of destruction will not be done at all. 

Even now people have to watch their flocks in the day 
time even, to keep the wolves away from them. 



So you see, I kill about one old wolf for every twenty 
young ones that I catch. While I am trying to kill the 
old wolf I kill 20 cubs and geit .$60, and for the old one I 
get only $.3. So there is nO' inducement to kill the old 
wolf, for she is not worth any more to me than a young 
one. It would be better to pay $10 for the old one than 
it is to pay for the increase. It has already gone too far, 
and, without a larger bounty, the wolves will be here by 
thousands, and you can't help it. 

DOES IT PAY? 

Glencoe, Emmons County, Jan. 8. — To The Forum: Does 
it pay to raise Russian thistle in place of Hungarian Brome 
grass? Or wild mustard in place of No. 1 hard? Or blind 
pigs in place of Poland and Berkshire? The question 
answers itself. 

Does it pay to quarantine for scarlet fevers, smallpox, or 
diphtheria, to disinfect house and garments, to stay the 



The Wolf Hunter's Guide. 47 

bubonic plague, to check and stamp out infectious diseases? 
Only a criminal carelessness will allow these to run riot, 
and become a menace^ curse and death. 

Does it pay to be penny-wise and pound-foolish? To 
save at spigot and waste at bung-hole? 

Does it pay to let thousands of sheep and cattle be killed 
by wolves and have state and county take little or no steps, 
to stop? Stockmen give these bloodthirsty, unsatisfiable 
brutes, every year, from cattle and sheep, from calves and 
lambs, more than the wolf bounty would amount to. 

Every year the demand and supply of blood becomes 
greater. No man will work for no wages. Let the state 
and county pay enough bounty to make it an object to 
kill wolves, and within five years, this never-satisfied and 
ever-increasing appetite and loss will be, largely, a thing 
of the past. 

Does it pay? It will pay. And the longer it is put off, 
the more it will cost. BEN CORBIN. 

THIS IS OUR UNCLE BEN. 

Uncle Ben Oorbin wants $112 from Burleigh county for 
wolf scalps. The commissioners won't pay it and Uncle 
Ben is now after the scalps of the commissioners. And 
Uncle Ben is quite a successful trapper. — Fargo Call. 
o^ 

The gavel which the state of Iowa will present to Gen. 
D. B. Henderson^ in honor of his being the first speaker 
from west of the Mississippi, will be a gorgeous affair. The 
wood came from Admiral Montojo's flagship, "Reina Maria 
Christina," which Admiral Dewey sank. There will be 
three solid gold plates on the gavel, one bearing Mr. Hen- 
derson's monogram, another the seal of Iowa, and another 
the seal of the United States. There are also plates bear- 
ing the wild rose, Iowa's flower, and a row of ears of com 
will run around the ferrule. Other flgures will appear 
also. All work is tO' be engraved on solid gold. 



I am from Iowa. I lived in Wayne county twenty-five 
years. I caught my first wolves in Wayne county. The 
bounty was 75 cents per scalp. I hunted all over Iowa. 
I made $112 off of one wolf in Sioux county; my dog pulled 
her tail off and she had from nine to twelve pups a year. 
The bounty was $2.50 and I got twelve pups and $30, and 
she lived seven miles west of Orange City, and far as I 
know is alive yet. 



An hour of triumph comes at last to those who watch 
and wait, and the sign is getting fresher. It has been a long 
time between drinks. 



48 Corbin^s Advice ; Or, 



CHAPTER XI. 

IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR THE FARMER. 
WOLF BOUNTY. 

I desire to call your especial attention to the results of 
the present bounty law enacted during the closing days of 
the last legislature. Since that law went into effect, up to 
the 15th day of December, 18!)G, bounty claims have been 
filed for ihe killing of wolves amounting, in the aggregate, 
to the sum of $47,123, and warrants have been issued in 
the sum of $G, 816. There is now on file claims for bounty 
for killing above named animals for which no warrants 
have been issued, amounting to $40,307. The revenues 
available under the law are not sufficient to meet more 
than one-fourth of the claims filed annually for bounty. 
The result is that payment is deferred so long that the 
bounty claims and certificates are discounted to such a 
large extent that they are almost worthless in the hands 
of the holders and for this reason those who engage in 
killing these animals secure only a small per cent of the 
amount allowed by the state for each animal thus killed. 

I am reliably informed that the principal damage to stock 
from wild animals is caused by the grey wolf, and would 
therefore recommend that all bounty laws be repealed ex- 
cept the bounty on grey wolves and the law be framed 
so as to prevent, as far as possible, frauds or the imposi- 
tion upon the public officials of the hides or scalps of 
coyotes for those of the grey wolves. By confining the 
bounty to these animals alone the revenue will, in a meas- 
ure, meet the demands and the hunters will receive cash 
for their claims and the incentive to hunt and kill these 
destructive pests will be multiplied by the increased cash 
value of their certificates. 

The following from the Bismarck Tribune gives the his- 
tory of the passage of the wolf bounty law in the North 
Dakota legislature: 

House Bill 57, special tax of one-third mill for payment 
of wolf bounty was considered. Mr. Stevens moved to 
amend by striking out the amendment confining the tax 
to the years 1800 and 1000. He stated the deficiency in the 
tax of one-tenth mill for the state wolf bounty. The state 
was in honor bound to pay the bounty it had authorized. 
It had no right to repudiate the obligation it had incurred. 
The provision for payment of bounties was insufficient. 



The Wolf Hunter's Guide. 49 

The state was morally bound to pay them, as any other de- 
ficiency. 

Mr. Lynch said he did not think the valley counties 
should pay increased tax to the slope counties, when they 
got no benefit. 

Mr. Bacon, thought the stockmen on the slope should 
hire a few men to kill the wolves. It was a rank injustice 
to appropriate nearly as much for wolf killing as to main- 
tain the largest educational institution in the state. 

Mr. Chacey did noit propose to support any measure that 
proposed to legislate in the interests of tne stockmen as 
against the farmers. 

The motion to amend was lost. 

Mr. Dougherty wanted to amend the bill by a levy on 
personal property, but withdrew the amendment. 
Mr. Lynch moved to indefinitely postpone the bill. 
Mr. Hale said he did not believe the state could afford 
to go forth as a repudiator. The state should pay the obli- 
gations on file in the auditor's office. Repeal the bounty 
law if desired, but the state must pay its honest debts. 

Mr. Sargent said the law was passed in good faith. The 
state could not afford to repudiate the debt. 

Mr. Bacon did not want to repudiate — he wanted the 
payment of the debt to extend over several years — he did 
not believe in attempting to pay the debt all at once. He 
moved to place the levy at two-tenths mill, which was all 
he thought the state could afford. 

Mr. Chacey said he was in favor of paying for the dead 
ones — no more live ones. 

Mr. Dougherty wanted to know what guarantee the state 
would have that it would not be as badly off two years from 
now. 

Mr, Wolbert said it was a more lionest debt than the 
legislature had voted when it recently passed a bill making 
appropriations for an expense which the state had forbid- 
den. He thought the debt should be paid and make the 
bounty big enough so that the man who killed the wolves 
should get the bojinty — not have to discount to the specu- 
lator for a fraction of what the law provided. 

Mr. Hare said the part of the state west of the river re- 
ceived not a cent from the state in the way of an appropria- 
tion except what was paid out for wolf bounty. Take off 
the wolf bounty — ^allow them to increase — and the Red 
River valley would be crying for bounty. The valley 
should help to build up the western part of the state — 
protect the stock industry — the second in the state. 

Mr. Stanford agreed — no one part of the state should be 
selfish — ^the eastern part of the state should aid the west — 
the latter paid tax for institutions in the east — there should 
be mutual interest and assistance. 

Mr. Wallace was not in favor of repudiation or anything 
that looked like it. Last week the state voted $420,000 



50 CorbiTVs Advice ; Or, 



for institutions east of the river — ^this morning the legisla- 
ture had voted the single $1,250 that remained away from 
the west side. The legislature should pass the bill as it 
stood — follow the golden rule. 

Mr. McHarg said the bill should pass as it is — pay the 
bounty and protect the stock, but do not put a perpetual 
tax on the state. 

Mr. Bacon's amendment was adopted, providing for a 
levy of two-tenths mill. 

Mr. Hale offered an amendemnt providing for the levy 
of the tax by the state board of equalization which was 
adopted. 

The bill was reported to pass as amended. The bill as 
finally amended provides for a levy of two-tenths mill 
during the years 1899 to 1900. 



LOOKING FOR SOME NICE $5-MUTTON. 

WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. 

The following table of the number of pounas of various 
articles to a bushel, may be of interest to our readers: 

Of wheat, sixty pounds. 

Of shelled corn, fifty-six pounds. 

Of corn on the cob^ seventy pounds. 

Of rye, fifty-six pounds. 

Of oats, thirty-six pounds. 

Of barley, forty-six pounds. 

Of potatoes, sixty pounds. * 

Of beans, sixty pounds. 

Of bran, twenty pounds. 

Of clover seed, sixty pounds. 

Of timothy seed, forty-five pounds. 

Of flax seed, forty-five pounds. 

Of hemp seed, forty-four pounds. 

Of buckwheat, fifty-two pounds. 

Of blue grass seed, fourteen pounds. 

Of castor ])eans, forty-six pounds. 

Of dried peaches, thirty-three pounds. 

Of dried apples, twenty-four pounds. 

Of onions, fifty-seven pounds. 

Of salt, fifty pounds. 



The Wolf Hunter'' s Guide. 51 

TABLE OF DISTANCES. 

The following table may be useful to the gardener, in 
showing the number of plants, or trees, that may be raised 
on an acre of ground, when planted at .any of the under- 
mentioned distances: 

Distance Apart ' No. Plants 

1 foot 43,560 

IV, foot 19,360 

2 feet 10,890 

2yo feet 6,869 

3 teet 4,840 

4 feet 2,7^:2 

5 feet 1,742 

6 feet 1,210 

9 feet 537 

12 feet 362 

15 feet 193 

18 feet • 134 

21 feet 98 

24 feet 75 

27 feet 59 

30 feet 48 

o 

The American Agriculturist says, to illustrate what the 

weekly saving, or the extra production will amount to in 
a single year, we select the following common items: 

One egg a week, at 37c. per doz $ 1.60 

Two eggs a week, at I8V2C. per doz 1.60 

0ns quart wheat a week, at 96c. per bushel 1.60 

One and a half quarts corn a week, at 66c. per 

bushel 1 . 61 

Three quarts corn a week, at 33c. per bushel 1 . 61 

Two quarts potatoes a week, at 50c. per buShel. ... 1,62 

Four quarts potatoes a week, at 25c. per bushel. ... 1.62 

One cabbage a week, at 3c. per head 1.56 

One and one-quarter quarts milk a week, at 2c. per 

quart 1 . 56 

One and three-quarter oz. butter a week, at 32c. per 

pound 1 . 56 

One-quarter lb. sugar a week, at 12c. per pound .... 1 . 56 

One-half oz. tea a week, at 96c. per pound 1.56 

One and one-half oz. coffee a week, at 32c. per 

pound 1 . 56 

One postage stamp a week, at 3 oents 1.56 

One poor cigar a week, at 3 cents 1 . 56 

Total $ 28.66 

A practical suggestion is, that any one of the above items 
saved, or produced extra, will pay for the American Agri- 
culturist a whole year, postage included. 



52 Corbhi's Advice ; Or, 



DEMAND OUT-GROWING SUPPLY. 

In speaking on this subject, the national provisioner, 
which is authority, says: "The cattle shortage exists. 
There is an effort among our ranchmen to stock up and to 
breed up, but the increase of population at a greater rate 
than the increase of the beef and swine herds, backed by 
the increased demand abroad for our food stuffs 
widens the deficiency between supply and demand. "^ 
How long this condition will last is uncertain^ 
but all efforts in this direction will hardly meet the grow- 
ing deficiency in the range supply. The northwest, because 
of the extension of agriculture and encroachment of the 
sheep herds will continue to diminish its cattle' ranges. 
The time when the territories can be used for the exten- 
sive cattle production that has for years made them so 
important an element of the industry can last but little 
longer. The area of range production must, In tne natural 
order of things, continue to diminish, while the require- 
ments of home and foreign consumption grow steadily 
larger. 

"Beside these, which may be considered the normal 
elements of the situation, there are what may be called 
emergency requirements that have become of considerable 
importance. These are the wars of our own country and 
of England in distant fields where troops must be supplied 
largely witn the products of the packing houses, which 
governments are learning to depend upon more and more 
in time of war. To this class of requirements also belongs 
the demand of Cuba, whose ranges and farms must have 
many thousands of cattle. It has been suggested that the 
high price of cattle would cause a development of the mut- 
ton growing industry that would lead to a considerable 
substitution of mutton tor beef, and that pork production 
would be greatly increased. The fact is that there is a 
short supply of both sheep and hogs in tne country as of 
cattle. The sheepmen are holding on to their herds, and 
there is reason to believe that not more than half as many 
lambs are being put on feed as went into the feed lots a 
year ago. 

"Of course such a situation must in time develop a very 
much larger stock farming industry in the portions of the 
country adapted to it, but this, for reasons not necessary 
to recite, must be a gradual development and it will be 
some years before it can materially affect the market. In 
the meantime cows are going to market from some sections, 
and in the feed pens, which are lightly supplied this sea- 
son, there are more 2-year-olds in proportion to the num- 
ber on feed than ever before, and quite a large number 
of yearlings. Everything in tne situation indicates that 
cattle prices are far more likely to advance than to decline, 
and that for many years the producer of cattle of good 
quality win be master of the situation. ' 



The Wolf Hunter's Guide. 53' 

AN OLD-TIME WOLF HUNTER. 

The following is a characteristic circular published years 
ago by Ben Corbin, when he lived down in Iowa. The ter- 
ritory or county, or both, gave a big bonus for wolf scalps, 
and made no difference as to age. An Emmons county 
man who knew Mr. C. in those days once told us that,, 
after many payments for cub-woxf scalps, an official said: 
"Mr. Corbin, how is it? Your wolves are all pups. Pon't 
you ever kill and old ones?" Ben replied with a twink.e 
in his eye, "Did you ever know a man to succeed in the 
stock business who killed all his cows?" But the follow- 
ing is Ben's unique advertisement: 

Honesty and Fair Dealing. 

Ben Corbin, of Grant Center, Iowa, is 

the Only Man in the Business. 

Fish, Wine, Wolves, or Land. 

I have the finest location in Iowa for hunting, fishing, 

or drinking wine. I sell fish at 10 cents per pound and 

fine pure wine at $1.50 per gallon, put up in good style 

and sweetened to the taste. Duck hunters, sporting men 

and trappers will be charged 25 cents per meal at my 

house; but I will give you a good, square meal. 

I can, and do, catch more wolves in a month than any 
man living; but the money must be in sight first. 
For more particulars address 

BEN CORBIN, 
Grant Center, Iowa. 

That Benjamin was a mighty hunter in those days is 
shown by the annexed newspaper clippings: 

Ben Corbin of Monona county, is the boss wolf hunter, 
and is well known in this county. In the last three weeks 
he has caught thirty-eight wolves in Lyon county, thirty- 
six in Sioux, and five in Monona. He has hunted over 
this county for four years. I'ne first year he caught in 
Lyon county, three; the second, twenty-five; the third, 
seventeen; and this year, as stated above, thirty-eight. If 
anybody can beat that let him come forward. — Rock 
Rapids Review. 

Ben Corbin of Grant township, the wolf hunter, was in 
town on Monday last. In conversatioR with the Press re- 
porter he informed the latter that he had closed his hunt 
for the season, having captured eighty-four wolves and two 
foxes. Of that number thirty-eight were killed in Lyon 
county, thirty-four in Sioux county, four in Woodbury, and 
five in Monona. While on the hunt in Lyon county he suc- 
ceeded, after a sharp chase, in capturing a couple of foxes. 
Ben feels especially proud of his success this season, hav- 
ing the good luck to number among his trophies of the 
hunt the scalps of six old wolves, the latter number of old 
ones being ahead of any former season's work. — Mapleton 
Press. 



54 Corbin^s Advice ; Or, 



WHEN PAPA WAS A BOY. 

"When papa was a little boy 

You really couldn't find 
In all the state of Washington 

A child so quick to mind. 
His mother never called but once. 

And pa was always there; 
He never made the baby cry, 

Or pulled his sister's hair. 
"He never slid down banisters. 

Or made the slightest noise; 
And never in his life was known 

To fight with other boys. 
He always studied hard at school, 

And got his lessons right; 
And chopping wood and milking cows 

Were papa's chief delight. 
"He always rose at 6 o'clock 

And went to bed at 8. 
And never lay abed till noon 

And never sat up late. 
He finished Latin, French and Greek 

When he was 10 years old, 
And knew the Spanish alphabet 

As soon as he was told. 
"He never grumbled when he had 

To do all the evening cnores. 
And ne'er in all his life forget 

To shut the stable doors. 
He never, never thought of play 

Until his work was done. 
He labored hard from break of day 

Until the set of sun. 
"He never scraped his muddy shoes 

Upon the parlor floor. 
And never answered back his ma, 

And never banged the door. 
But truly I could never see," 

Said little Dick Malloy, 
*'How he could never do these things, 

And really be a boy." 

— Selected. 



When growing stock you have something all the time 
turning into money. When crops are the sole dependence, 
there are seasons when everything is at a standstill, and 
there is no source of income. In the winter the earth is 
asleep while we watch the cattle contentedly feeding. If 
there is a sudden need of money some one of them is 
always ready to bring it. 



The Wolf Hiinter''s Guide. 55 



THE MORTGAGE. 

I am the finishing touch to the home; 
I am the last requirement on the farm; 
You may build ever so grandly, 
You may furnish ever so richly, 
You may construct ever so homely, 
You may live ever so poorly, 
I abide with like composure with each. 
Wealth does not embarrass me; 
Poverty does not discourage me, 
I get into correspondence 
With my environments, 
And composedly put in my time. 
Patience is my principal virtue; 
Waiting creates my wages. 
I am the invisible man 
Put into the house to collect. 
Those who wine and dine as guests 
Do not suspect my presence; 
But I chalk my daily balance all the same, 
I am great on the farm. 
Abundant crops do not excite me 
Nor poor ones discourage me. 
I am more industrious than the farmer. 
Though he rises at dawn 
And labors until night, 
For I neither slumber nor sleep. 
No matter how poorly the farmer fares, 
I always farm at a profit. 
If harvests are good, I have my share; 
If crops fail, I live on the land. 
I go deeper than drouth; 
Hot winds do not blow me away; 
Cyclones cannot uproot me; 
Grasshoppers ao not eat my substance 
Or chinch bugs suck out my vitality. 
I lay in the bank and laugh at the farmer's 
Calamity, 

And when the appointed time comes 
I arouse myself and go forth. 
Armed with the power of tne law. 
And swipe from the farmer his 
House, his land, his hope. 



AN OBLIGING SON-IN-LAW. 

"Oh, Tom," exclaimed the bride of six months, "what do 
you think! Mother says she wants her body cremated." 

"She does, eh?" said the husband. "Well, tell her to get 
ready and I'll take her over to the crematory the first thing 
in the morning." 



.56 Corbin^s Advice; Or, 

GROWTH AND LIFE OF ANIMALS. 

Man grows for 20 years, and lives 90 or 100 years. 

The horse grows for 5 years, and lives 30 years. 

The ass grows for 5 years, and lives 3(» years. 

The ox grows for 4 years, and lives 15 to 20 years. 

The cow grows for 4 years, and lives 20 years. 

The hog lives 12 to 15 years. 

The sheep lives 10 years. 

The camel grows for 8 years, and lives 40 years. 

The lion grows for 4 years, and lives 40 years. 

The dog grows for 2 years, and lives 12 to 14 years. 

The cat grows for ly^ years, and lives 9 or 10 years. 

The hare grows for jl year and lives S years. 

The guinea pig grows 7 months, and lives or 7 years. 

The beaver liveis 30 years. 

The deer and wolf live 20 years. 

The fox lives 14 to ItJ years. 

The squirrel lives 7 years. 

The rabbit lives 7 years. 

The eagle lives 100 years. 

Geese live 20 years. 

Hens and pigeons live 10 to 15 years. ^ 

The elephant, 100 years; codfish, 14 to 17 years; eels, 10 
years; crocodile, 100 years; queen bees, 4 years; drones, 4 
months; worker bees, Q months. 

Periods of gestation are the same in the horse and ass, 
11 months each; camel, 12 months; elephant, 2 years; lion, 
5 months; buffalo, 12 months; cow, 9 months; sheep, 5 
months; reindeer, 8 months; monkey, 7 months; bear, 6 
months; sow, 4 months; dog, nine weeks; cat. 8 weeks; rab- 
bit, 4 weeks; guinea pig, 3 weeks; she wolf, 90 to 95 days; 
the "goose sits 3() days; swans, 42; hens. 21; ducks, 30; pea 
hens and turkeys, 28; canaries, 1^; pigeons, 14; parrots, 40. 



o 

BOUGHT WITH ONE CROP. 

Henry Bonde of Stutsman county last summer cleared 
up a tidy farm with a single crop. He already owns several 
quarter sections but he wanted one more quarter which he 
was fortunate in getting by promising to pay .$800 for the 
land. Part of the land was broken up previously and all 
was put under the plow this season and the land seeded 
to flax and wheat. Seed flax was bought at $1.10 a bushel 
and the place rented on shares. From the land was 
realized 1,800 bushels of flax and 500 bushels of wheat. 
Some of the flax was sold at .$1.19 and some for .$1.10. Out 
of his share of the crop and after paying half of the thresh 
bill and for half of the seed Mr. Bonde not only paid for 
the land but had $25 or $30 beside. 



The Wolf Hu7iter^s Guide. 57' 

THE BEST SPEECH EVER MADE. 

The Westminister Review pronounces Lincoln's Gettys- 
burg speech as the finest that ever fell from human lips. 
In view of this fact, and that it is even more pertinent 
than it ever was, we need make no appology for republish- 
ing it. We give it below: 

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brouglit forth 
upon this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and 
dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. 
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether 
that nation^ or any nation so conceived or dedicated, 
can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of 
that war. We are met to dedicate a portion of it as the 
final resting-place of those who here gave their lives that 
the nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper 
that we should do this. 

But in a large sense we cannot consecrate, we cannot 
hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, 
who struggled here, have consecrated it far above our 
power to add or detract. The world will little note nor 
remember long what we say here, but it can never forget 
what they did here. It is for us, the living, rather to be 
dedicated to the unfinished work tnat they have thus far 
so nobly carried on. It is rather for us to be here dedi- 
cated to the great task remaining before us — that from 
these honored dead we take increased devotion to the cause 
for which they here gave the last full measure of devotion 
— that we here highly resolve that the dead shall not have 
died in vain — that the nation shall, under God, have a new 
birth of freedom, and that the government of the people 
by the people, and for the people, shall not perish from the 
earth. 



o 

A SHEEP MAN'S PROFIT. 

Says the Dickinson Press: There are few sheepmen in 
the country who can make a better showing for the capital 
invested than H. J. Schultz of this place. May 2, 1897, Mr, 
Schultz bought 1,930 sheep at $2.22 per head, or .$4,284 as 
first cost. The same year he sold .+11,600 worth of wool 
from the band and $936 worth of mutton, making $2,530 as 
the first year's proceeds. In 1898 he sold $2,100 worth of 
wool and $1,353 worth of mutton, a total of $3,553. This 
year his wool clip amounts to $2,375. Mr. Schultz has not 
sold his '99 mutton and has on hand 2,830 sheep. Taking 
out the originyl numbers purchased, he would still have 900 
on hand. His total sales of wool and mutton for the two 
years and throe months that he has had the band amount 
to $8,358, and the 2,830 sheep that he has on hand are 
easily worth as much more. 



58 Corbiyi's Advice; Or, 



THE HERO'S RETURN. 

He comes from distant ocean; to his native land again, 
The hero of Manila — who humbled haughty Spain, 
The man whose wondrous prowess will brighten history's 

page — 
While honor shall honor valor — till time's remotest age. 
"Welcome, this son of Neptune, from far Manila's wave, 
"Old Glory" waving o'er him; the banner of the brave, 
Columbia, greet your hero — in joyous accents tell 
How you delight to honor the men who faught so well. 
He comes — but not as heroes returned from ancient wars, 
Who fought for spoil, or glory — beneath the flag of Mars; 
The pathway of those triumphs was marked by ruined 

homes. 
By servile chains — by wasted plains — by fallen spires 

and domes. 
No thought of spoil or conquest e'er swayed this hero's 

mind — 
Save the spoiling of the spoilers, enslavers of mankind; 
Much cause had those for sorrow — well might they rue 

the day. 
When first the "Starry Banner" waved above Bay, 

Bay, 
For never in former ages, on distant sea or shore. 
Did history's truthful pages record such deeds before. 
As those of the dauntless Dewey, when on Manila tide 
His guns awakened the echoes, heard around the world 

wide. 
The achievement of that morning made Spanish tyrants 

sad. 
To those it was a warning and patriots' hearts were 

glad; 
The men of Porto Rico, and those of Cuba's shore. 
Should hold the name of Dewey in honor ever more. 
He is coming from the Orient, to- his own beloved shore, 
And nevermore may walk the bridge when cannons flash 

and roar; 
'Tis meet that in life's evening, serenely he should rest. 
The victor's laurel on his brow, and peace within his 

breast. 

M. C. W. 



Emmons county is becoming a stock shipping region. 
Seventy-three carloads of cattle have been shipped from 
Braddock on the Soo, and the total shipments for the year 
from there will reach over 100 cars. So far, $75,100 has 
been received by ranchers for cattle shipped from that 
point. 



The Wolf Hunter^ s Guide 59' 



CHAPTER XII. 

SKETCH OP MY WAR RECORD DURING THE CLOSING 
DAYS OF THE REBELLION. INTERESTING EX- 
PERIENCES. 

They used to say of Gough, the temperance leader, no mat- 
ter what his subject was he took water before he got done. 
So if you follow me, no matter where I go in this narrative, 
you will find me fetch up on wolves. They are my chorus 
and song every time. 

I was on my army record the last chapter. I forgot tO' say 
that my younger brother, Isaac, served in the 9th Iowa 
cavalry, and was wounded and served ten months in Ander- 
Eonville and other prisons. Three of my brothers-in-law 
also served bravely. My father was in the war of 1812, and 
enlisted for the Mexican war. Five out of his six son^ 
served with the union army. 

My brother Abner, a soldier, was presiaing eider in the 
U. B. church. My oldest brother, David, was in the army 
of the Potomac. My brother John was in the 4th Iowa 
cavalry, captured, escaped and died in the ambulance near 
Jackson, Miss. I served in Co. F, 34th Iowa three years 
and was discharged at Houston, Texas. 

So I am not ashamed of my record or that of my family, 
although we were Virginians, true blue, with hlood as blue 
as any that ever dared fire on the flag, and 1 think a little 
bluer, and true blue at that. 

Ten thousand men under General Steele left the old his- 
toric town of Pennesecola on the 20th day of March, 1865. 
General C. C. Andrews commanded the second division of 
these troops. Colonel G. W. Clark, the 34th Iowa infantry, 
one of the best regiments in the division. The 34th was 
called "The Star Regiment," not because it had the wolf 
liunter in it, but because its number was the same as the 
stars which filled the field of our flag, and represented the 
number of states in our union at that time. For eleven 
days we marched through Florida swamps, corduroying 
many miles of road, slept in damp clothes at night, was on 
half rations the last five days. Our men gathered and ate 
corn which had been left on the ground by the enemy's 
pickets, and had been slobbered over by their horses. Dur- 
ing this time we had a number of skirmishes with the 
rebel cavalry. The first day of April found us opposite 
Blakely, Ala., at one time a town of 3,000 people, now one 



■60 CorbUVs Advice ; Or, 



of the main defenses at Mobile. The fortifications around 
Blakely were circular in form, three miles long and in- 
cluded nine well built redoubts, armed with forty pieces of 
artillery and surrounded by ditches four to five feet deep. 
All the trees six to eight hundred yards in their front had 
been felled. Fifty yards out from the works were a line 
of aDattis, and opposite some of the redoubts a second line, 
then 300 yards out to the front parallel with those works 
was another line of abattis, and behind the latter detached 
rifle pits. The works were manned by 3,500 of the enemy. 
The 2d of April was occupied in investingthese works, 
during which operation we lost sixty or seventy killed and 
wounded. Hawkins' division which was composed of 
colored troops was on the right, Andrew's division in the 
center and Girard's on the left. It is supposed that ten 
men well protected by earth works can successfully resist 
three or four times their number. So instead of throwing 
our troops against the enemy's fortifications with great 
loss of life and possible repulse. General Steele determined 
to work up as near his lines as possible with pick and 
shovel, with which we were well supplied; in fact when the 
campaign at Mobile was commenced, General Canby in 
general orders, provided that one pick and shovel and one 
axe be carried by every twelve men. Our first intrench- 
ments were dug a thousand yards from the enemy's works. 
For the benefit of our posterity, a few words, as to tempor- 
ary intrenchments, may be inserted here. They are usu- 
ally called rifle pits, and are two or three feet deep, the dirt 
being thrown on the side toward the enemy. Occassionally 
on top of this dirt will be placed the trunk of a tree six 
or seven inches in diameter. By scraping away earth from 
under the trunk, the enemy could be observed without ex- 
posing the heads of our men. 

These trenches were always dug at night, no talking 
above a whisper being permiuced, and no sound but that 
which came from digging with picks and shovels. Owing 
to the scarcity of these it took three nights work to com- 
plete our flrst line. The fourth night tne supply of in- 
trenching tools having been increased, more rapid progress 
was made, so that by the eighth night we had finished a 
second and a third line of Intrenchments, the last being 
six feet wide and capable of holdiing troops in three ranks, 
and was GOO yards from the rebel works. The skirmishers 
in front of our division intrenched themselves within 
eighty yards of the enemy's outer line of pickets. In the 
meantime small forts for our artillery had been constructed 
along our first and second lines, and the guns oi our light 
batteries placed in them. The enemy was not quiet while 
this was going on, as any exposure of our men drew his 
fire both of musketry and artillery, killing and wounding 
each day from twenty to forty. Spanish Fort, eight miles 
south of which had been invested March 27th by the 16th 



The Wolf Hunter's Guide. 61 



army corps, surrendered to General A. J. Smith on the 8th 
and some of the guns used in its seige were immediately 
sent to General Steele, who had them placed in position 
during the night of the 8th and the morning of the i)th day 
of April. Five o'clock the evening of ^ae 9th day of April 
was fixed as the hour for a general assault of the enemy's 
works. At that hour the firing of all the cannon on the 
lines or the second division was to be the signal for the 
charge. Owing to an unforseen delay, this signal was not 
given until 5:30 p. m. At thai hour our troops had all been 
formed in line of battle in the lines ^of intrenchements 
nearest the enemy, with bayonets fixed one regiment of 
each brigade being deployed as skirmishers. Along the front 
of its brigade intrenchments, breathlessly they waited the 
signal to move forward. The silence was interrupted only 
by an occasional shot from a rebel picket. The waiting 
and suspense was a sore test of courage. Some tried to 
conceal their anxiety by an effort to appear reckless, care- 
less and whispering jokes and puns, pretending they enjoyed 
it immonsely; others, more serious, gave their comrades 
messages to be delivered to loved ones at home in case they 
fell. The countenance of none indicated that he feared 
the approaching contest. While all dreaded it, they were 
impatient for the battle. With the crashing of the signal 
guns our first line of skirmishers -eaped from the trenches 
and with yells rushed forward 150 yards, while the second 
line with loud cheering soon joined them, and all rushec for- 
ward together. Now every cannon the enemy had on his 
line, and every rifle, poured forth their deadly missels on our 
men. A tempest of bullets, pieces of bursting shells, canis- 
ter and grape whistle about their ears. They were met by 
deadly, unseen and unknown dangers in sunken torpedoes, 
which, when trod upon, exploded, stripping the flesh from 
their legs and wounding terribly. Fallen trees, abattis, 
and wire stretched along the ground impeded their way 
and exposed them longer to the enemy's fire. No reply was 
made except by our artillery, which pounded away over 
our heads. In fifteen minutes we had surmounted all the 
obstructions, climbed their works and given them the 
bayonet. They fell backward, and dropping their guns, 
threw up their hands in token of surrender, and our work 
was done. We were victorious, but 654 of our men, who an 
hour before were joking and laughing with each other had 
been laid low. In these fifteen minutes our losses were 
greater than those on our side in the four revolutionary 
battles at Lexington, Bunker Hill, Trenton and Bennington. 
*We captured 3,423 prisoners, forty pieces of artillery, be- 
sides small arms. The enemy's loss in killed was prob- 
ably a third as much as ours. General Steele reached the 
works soon after the capture, and in his squeaky voice ex- 
claimed: "I knowed you'd do it! I knowed you'd do it!" 
Those were glorious moments. There are few such in a 



(i2 Corhhi's Advice; Or, 



life time; victory had crowned our efforts, the end for 
which days of toil and nights of wakings had been passed 
was quickly and gloriously accomplished. At half past 
three this same afternoon, Lee, at Appomattox had sur- 
rendered to General G-rant and the war was virtually over 
two hours before our charge. On the 14th of April our 
regiment entered triumphantly into tue city of Mobile; 
lOU guns were fired in honor of this event and glorious 
victories reported from all quarters. The war was over — 
the union saved; and all, all, by the boys in blue and the 
boys in blue alone. 

Mobile, city of 25,000 before the war, was reduced at 
this time to about 12,000. While the regiment was still 
rejoicing over the great victories, and as we were steaming 
up the Alabama river, we received a signal announcing 
the assassination, on the 14th of President Lincoln and Sec- 
retary Seward, causing a great revulsion of feeling from 
the highest exultation to deepest sorrow. On the 24th we 
landed at Selma, Ala., where we remained in camp a few 
days only. We returned to Mobile where we remained, 
performing light guard duty, awaiting developments until 
June, when the division nuder command Gen. C. C. Andrews 
sailed for Galveston, Texas. Feeling that the war was 
closed and our contract filled, the movement was very pro- 
voking and gave rise to much complaining from the boys. 
We arrived at Galveston and soon after proceeded to 
Houston, Texas. Our regiment marched through the 
streets of the old historic town, the first army of free 
Yankee soldiers who had ever trod the soil of that region. 
The dwellings were closed, curtains drawn, the women of 
that city having sworn never tO' look upon the Yankee. 
They closed and barred their doors and windows. But it 
is historically true and should be so recorded, that before 
the 34th left Houston, many of these ladies smiled sweetly 
upon the boys in blue, and the leading spirit of them all 
married a Yankee soldier, and now lives happily with him 
in Chicago; others became the wives of many union sol- 
diers. Our stay in Houston was in many respects comfort- 
able and pleasant, but all were eager, and anxious to re- 
turn to their homes. We did no't leave Houston, however, 
until the 17th of August, 1SG5, when the regiment was 
mustered out of service, and returned to Iowa to peace, 
rest and home. I would like to tell more but have not the 
space, and here ends my military history and my twelfth 
chapter. 



Soak your corn in a solution of saltpetre. It destroys 
the worms, is not relished by crows or squirrels, and 
yields much more abundantly than when planted without. 



The Wolf Hunter's Guide. 63 



CHAPTER XIII. 

MY NINE YEARS EXPERIENCE IN WOLF HUNTING 
ON THE MISSOURI SLOPE. TESTING THE 
BOUNTY LAW IN THE COURTS. MY FIGHT WITH 
COUNTY COMMISSIONERS. 

Part of the minutes of the board of county commission- 
ers of Burleigh county, N. D., held March 0, 1S96. 

"On motion the petition of W. H. Bratton and thirty-one 
others, and C. A. Burton and twenty-three others for 
bounty on wolf scalps be granted and the bounty fixed at 
$2 per head." 

Part of the minutes of the board of county commission- 
ers of Burleigh county, N. D., held April G, 1897. 

"On motion it was resolved that from and after this 
date the county will not pay any bounty on wolf scalps." 

I, W. S. Moorhouse, hereby certify that the above is a 
true copy of the proceedings of the board of county com- 
missioners of Burleigh county, N. D., from April, 1891, to 
November, 1898, as far as they relate to wolf bounties. 

Witness my hand and official seal this 19th day of Novem- 
ber, 1898. W. S. MOORHOUSE, 

County Auditor. 

It will be remembered that this bounty was put on ac- 
cording to law and was taken off contrary to law, for the 
law said when a petition signed by twenty-five stocic 
raisers and taxpayers was presented they shall put on a 
bounty not less than $1 nor more than .$3, and they owe 
me $112. I need the money for the reason that they took 
off the bounty illegaly and against the will of the tax- 
payers. At the time they took off the bounty. April 6, 
1897, there was not over 300 wolves in a% county. Today 
there are 2,704 — females, 1,352 and with five to the litter, 
makes 6^760. Then add the old wolves and we have 
9,464. So you see at $2 bounty for old wolves, $5,408, and 
the increase at $1 each, $6,760, makes a tota,l of $12,168. 
So you see in order to beat me out of $112 they have beat 
the taxpayers out of $12,168 and still have the wolves left. 
Two-legged wolves help these farmers out and feed them 
on beef and mutton at 18 cents per pound. 



(;4 Corbhi's Advice; Or, 



6,339 


17.00 


65,691 


26.00 


1,350 


150.00 


24,100 


10.00 


20,636 


14.00 


55,576 


17.00 


50 


25.00 


4,925 


25.00 


306 


18.00 


440 


40.00 


15,485 


1.75 


1,478 


3.00 



STATISTICS IN BURLEIGH COUNTY. 

No. Value Average 

Horses 1-year-old 557 $ 5,570 $ 10.00 

Horses 2-year-old 367 

Horses 3-year-old 2,502 

Stallions 9 

Cattle 1-year-old 2,410 

Cattle 2-year-old 1 ,474 

Cattle 3-year-old 3,268 

Work oxen 2 

All other cattle 197 

Mules and asses 1-year-old 17 

Mules and asses 3-year-old 11 

Sheep 8,847 

Hogs 516 

Number of old wolves, 2,704; increase, 6,760; total, 9,464. 
Number of females, five to the litter,l,352. Wolf tax levy, 
$432.93. Number of wolves killed in 1899,150. 

Real property, .$2,164,632; personal, 513,376; railroad, 
.$257,981; total valuation, .$2,935,989. State appropriation 
for wolf bounty, $587.19. Square miles,l,662. Wolves in 
county, 9,464. Wolves to each section, five and a half. 

Now hear the tone of the Mandan Pioneer. Morton 
county is the home of the wolf. They are raised in Mor- 
ton county and the county never pays any bounty, and she 
is overrun with wolves. The damage done to stock and 
poultry in Morton county alone would pay .$10 per head 
for every old wolf in the county. There is no way that you 
can help yourself, for you have let Ike matter run too long. 
I told everybody four years ago that without a larger 
bounty they would be there by the thousands and you 
can't help it. I can catch hundreds of young wolves, but 
I can't shoot and trap but a few old ones. Gray hounds 
are the best thing, but I am too old for that. Have your 
gray hounds and stag hounds and have an extra team and 
a swing door to let the hounds out at the right time and 
put on a decent bounty for the hunter. 

Prom the Mandan Pioneer: The stockmen of this com- 
munity are confronted with a serious problem concerning 
the means to be employed in getting rid of the large grey 
wolves which are playing such havoc with young stock. 
These wolves have increased during the past year in such 
numbers as to cause serious losses to many of the ranch- 
men. Such a vigorous hunt is being made for them in 
South Dakota and eastern Montana that they are driven 
to this section of the country where owing to the small 
bounty offered for their hides it does not pay hunters to 
make a business of shooting them. In some instances 
these wolves have been so bold in their search for young 
meat as to drive the cattle intO' the ranchmen's correls. 
They prefer to kill their own meat and like it best when 



The Wolf Hunter's Guide. 65 

warm and will devour the hind quarters of a colt and leave 
the rest to rot on the prairie. They seem to single out 
stock less than a year old but in some cases have been 
known to kill 2-year-old colts and cattle. One ranchman 
living on the Cannon Ball lost six head in one night. They 
will travel twenty miles in order to secure a particularly 
choice meal. The question of how to exterminate these 
beasts is quite a serious one with the ranchmen and one 
that is being discussed with a view of taking the best pos- 
sible action. 

o 

STATISTICS OP MORTON COUNTY. 

No. Value Average 

Horses 1-year-old 1,115 $11,150 $10.00 

Horses 2-year-old 1,395 32,715 17.00 

Horses 3-year-old 4,030 124,824 26.00 

Stallions 20 3,000 150.00 

Cattle 1-vear-old 7,202 72,020 10.00 

Cattle 2-year-old 6.036 85,252 14.00 

Cattle 3-year-old 3,703 148,307 17.00 

Work oxen 2 50 25.00 

All other cattle 1,383 34,575 25.00 

Mules and asses. 9 360 40.00 

Sheep 25,800 45,150 1.75 

Hogs 1,849 3,147 3.00 

Number of sections In Morton county, 2,916. Number of 
old wolves, 4,040; increase, 10,100; total, 14,140. Wolves 
to the section seven. Wolf tax levy, $579.44. More two- 
legged wolves. This time five in place of three. Morton 
county has five county commissioners. On the 6th day 
of April, 1897, Burleigh county took off the county bounty 
and then I had to extend my wolf farm farther south to 
Beaver creek and give up the south half of Burleigh county. 
I told my son, Charley if he would go to Morton county 
and get signers enough I would pay all expenses, so he did 
and got thirty-six of the bigest stockmen in the county 
signers. I sent in the petition and the board would not 
allow the bounty. Notwithstanding the law says they shall 
put on a bounty (it don't say they may but says posiitively 
they shall put on a bounty) not less than .$1 nor more 
than $3. So you see what the two-legged wolves know. 
The county commissioners narbor the wolves at, the ex- 
pense of your pocket, while they fill their own pockets. 

o 

Complaints come from Wyoming that wolves are more 
than usually destructive to cattlt there; and from several 
other western states, even Minnesota, that wolves are more 
prone to attack young cattle thac formerly; or in other 
words that they seem disposed to vary their diet of mutton 
with occasional morsels of beef. 



66 Corhhi's Advice; Or, 



FROM THE RECORDS OF THE OFFICIAL PROCEED- 
INGS OF THE BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSION- 
ERS OF EMMONS COUNTY. 

"In Book No. 1, on page 290: Meeting of the board of 
county commissioners held July 6, 1S91. Present, Hy 
Van Beek, chairman; Greorge H. McLain and Dugald Camp- 
bell, commissioners. Benj. Cor bin handed in a petition 
signed by over twenty-five stock raisers of Emmons 
county, praying that the board offer a bounty on wolves 
killed within said county, and in accordance with an 
act approved March 11, 1891, the board allowed a bounty 
of .$1 on all wolves or coyotes killed in the county." 

The above petition was handed in to the county commis- 
sioners on April 1, 1891 and not allowed until July the 6th. 
By this time the cub wolves were big as old wolves, and 
now state bounty and county bounty certificates were 60 
cents on the dollar and the law says the bounty shall not 
be less than $1 nor over $3. Here the county board 
should bide faith at a low ebb. Nevertheless I never 
caught a wox. that year, but went right on hoeing in my 
garden, and catching catfish at .5 cents per pound. Cat- 
fish is great brain frood and I had to do this to cope with 
the county board, and being the first of April, third day 
(on page 396, Book No. 1) of meeting of the board of 
county commissioners of Emmons county. All members 
of the board present. Benj. Corbin presented a petition 
with thirty-four signatures asking the board to increase 
the bounty on wolves froim .$1 to .$2. On motion the peti- 
tion was granted and on all wolves killed on or ar^er 
April 1, 1892. This time I called for $2 and got it. I 
soon learned that I had to do the work and knew better 
what it was worth, and at this time I caught eighty-one 
wolves in thiity-five days, over three a day. The bounty 
was $4, $2 county and $2 state, discount, 25 per cent. 

"In Book No. 1, page 4.57: Meeting of board of county 
commissioners of Emmons county held April 28, 1894. 
All members of the board present. A petition signed by 
the requisite number of stock raisers, praying the board 
to grant a bounty of $2 on each wolf scalp was presented. 
On motion the board fixed the bounty to be paid for wolf 
scalps at $1 each." 

On notice being given througn the county record that 
hereafter the county won't pay any wolf bounty — still 
the wolf record showed that the wolf bounty never had 
been recorded as talked of, and on the face of the above 
petition the board fixed the bounty at $1. 

Little did they think that a copy of wolf record would 
ever be called for and they could levy this for their own 



The Wolf Hiinter^s Guide. 67 

use. The peifcition was for $2 and got $1; called for bread 
and was given a stone. Now here's the tone of the next 
meeting, April 2, 1S95. This is the first time on record 
shows where the bounty ever was taken off. 

"In Book No. 1, on page 517: Meeting of board of 
county commissioners held April 2, 1895. All members 
present. On motion it was resolved by the board that 
the bounty of $1 heretofore paid for wolf scalps be dis- 
continued from and after this date. In Book No. 1, on 
page 521: Meeting of board of countv commissioneirs 
of Emmons county held April 2, 18f)5. All members 
present. On motion the county auditor was authorized 
to refuse to issue a certificate of indebtedness to Edward 
Abbott for bounty claimed for wolf scalps and allowed 
March 2, 1895, for the reason that said aflldavit is believed 
to be fraudulent." 

It will be remembered thaJt this Edward Abbott was the 
man that shipped the wolf scalps in from Chicago and was 
putting them off on several counties and was caught and 
sent to the pen for three years. 

"In Book No. 1, page 545: Meeting of board of county 
commissioners of Emmons county. N. D., held September 
2 189o Present, Geo. H. McLain, chairman; William 

^nnf ^ ^K ^. ^'^^" ^'°^^' ^commissioners. B^n CoS 

appeared before the board, claiming that the county 

bounty on wolves was illegally taken off, and asked that 

his taxes for 1893 and 1894 be abated on account of the 

^leZ.l7t^ ""l !"°^ '^^^^^ ^^^ ^'^"-^^ ^^- taken off 
T^l uf .^ ^'^""^^Z ^° ^^^^^ ^^« request. In Book i page 
508: Meeting of the board of county commissioners of 
Emmons county, N. D., held Januari- 6, 1^96 PreseM 
William Margach, Franz Wolf and A^ex. ' MacDonrid the 
latter having duly qualified. William Margach was 

Wd with'rt"'-.. ^""^:- -^^^'^'^^ -PP^--^ be"-e Th^ 
Doard with a written opinion from the Hon Attorn^^v 

wXf kilfed bv'T'"' ^- '^ ^^'^ ^^^ ^--ty ofToS 
wolves killed by him during the year 1895 tne attornpv 

f^f:^:^Z7t\''''.''^''''''' '^-' the com^i^fS 
seel on 1 Phi. ^^V""^^ '^^ ^°^^^« i^ accordance with 
ac?ian XTT.'l '^'J^^' °^ ^^^^' ^'^^^^ not rescind their 
Cnvhf^ °h ^?^'?;^ conformity thereto, allowed Mr. 

Corbm uhe amount of $80. 

In book 1, page 572: Meeting of the board of countv 
commissioners of Emmons county, North Dakota, held 
January 6, 1S9G. 

The question as to whether there is at present any county 
bounty on wolves was referred to the states attorney for 
his opinion." 

You will see by the above that on January 6, 1896, the 
county board got so badly mixed that they could not tell 
whether they had any wolf bounty or not, and then applied 



68 Corbin^s Advice ; Or, 



to the btate's attorney to know if they had any county 
bounty. Attorney never answered. Great set of officers. 

"In book 1, pages 584, 5S5, 580 and 587: Meeting of the 
board cf county commissioners of Emmons county, North 
Dakota, held February 28, 180(5. 

Petition signed by twenty-five stockraisers of Emmons 
county praying for a bounty on wolves, was presented. 
On motion the board placed a bounty of one dollar on all 
wolves Inlled in Emmons county from March 1, 189G. 

Meeting held — evening session. The question of bounty 

Mr. Benjamin Corbin appeared before the board with a 
petition signed by forty-six signers, praying for a bounty of 
$2 on young wolves, and $.'i on old ones. Mr. Dugald 
Campbell addressed the board ©n the subject, also Mr. H, 
A. Armstrong. 

Moved by Commissioner MacDonald that a bounty of 
$2 on young wolves and .$3 on old wolves be paid by Em- 
mons county. Not seconded. 

Moved by Commissioner Wolf that a bounty of .$2 on all 
wolves killed in Emmons county be allowed. Not sec- 
onded. 

Meeting held — evening session. The question of bounty 
on wolves was further considered. 

On motion of Commissioner Wolf, the following resolu- 
tion was moved and carried: 

Resolved, That an additional bounty of one dollar on all 
wolves or coyotes killed within the county of Emmons by 
residents thereof, between April 0, ISIX), and January 1, 

1807, be and hereby is added to the county bounty already 
existing. 

Resolved, That a further bounty of one dollar on all full 
grown wolves or coyotes killed as aforesaid prior to the 
Fourth of July, 180(5, be added to the $2 bounty above pro- 
vided for. 

In book 2, page 100: Meeting of board of county com- 
missioners of Emmons county. North Dakota, held April 5,^ 

1808. All members present. 

Benjamin Corbin presented a petition to the board signed 
by twenty-five citizens of the county, asking that the county 
commissioners place a bounty on wolves in conformity to 
section 15(50 of the Revised Codes of North Dakota. 

On motion the following resolution was adopted: 

That whereas, Benjamin Corbin appeared before the 
board with a petition signed by the requisite number of 
stockraisers of the county, praying that the present bounty 
of one dollar on wolves ba increased to the sum of two 
dollars. 

Resol^ved, That after due consideration of said petition,, 
considering the financial condition of the county, it is 
deemed inadvisable to further increase the drafts upon the 
treasury by an increase of the bounty on wolves, said pe- 
tition is hereby rejected." 



The Wolf Hunter's Guide. 69 

I then laid my bill before the county board for .$195 just 
denied me on account of the wolf bounty which had been 
illegally taken off. The county board then refused to pay 
the same for the following reason: As following bill oi 
Benjamin Corbin for .$19.5 bounty on wolves was rejected 
for the reason that during the period covered by this bill 
a county bounty of only one dollar was allowed on each 
scalp presented to the auditor. As I had gone according 
to law, and the county commissioners hadn't got a word of 
law by which they had any show to cut the bounty down. 

The county commissioners, or rather Emmons county, to 
test the law whether the county commissioners had the 
right to cut off the bounty agents, the will of the taxpayer 
and the stockman. I have paid all of the costs, about 
$25, and it is a test case and was all turned over to Judge 
Winchester last November and the county commissioners 
were to have thirty days. It has been over a hundred 
days and they haven't sent in their briefs yet. I have paid 
all the costs, so their share is all in, and I can whistle. 
They will hear the whistle, however, and that soon. The 
election comes off this fall and their name is Dennis. 

I have now shown by the wolf record that the county 
board could not tell whether they had any county bounty 
or not, and as word had gotten out again that the county 
board had taken off the bounty again, so the stockmen 
rustled 25 signers for a bounty, and so the board at their 
meeting February 28, 1896, placed on a bounty of one 
dollar. I had sent a large petition calling for ,$2 bounty 
and the county board knew that I had a petition so they 
slapped on one dollar bounty to- head me off. And lo and 
behold my man S. A. Hawks had not delivered my petition. 
I then waited until their regular meeting held April 0, 1896. 
I then rustled forty-six of the heaviest taxpayers to my 
petition, calling for .$2 on young wolves, and $3 on old 
wolves. It is over twenty miles from Glencoe to Williams- 
port, and on the appointed day I hitched to a two-horse 
bi-iggy ''ind laid up my petition. This only lacked four 
signers of being twice as many as I needed. I buckled on 
the breast plate of righteousness and was shod with the 
whole armor of God, and when the board met and I spoke to 
one of the board that I had a little matter that I wished 
to call their attention to in the shape of a decent wolf 
bounty. So they said they would listen to me. So i 
pulled out my petition and like the old women in the army 
I told them that it came from heaven's authority. So I 
handed my petition, signed by forty six of the biggest tax- 
payers in the county, and stock raisers, and told them if 
I was down in Iowa I could borrow money on that petition. 
I only had to talk about one hour. I told the board the 
amount of damage they had done in the la-st year, how my 
sheep and calves were destroyed, and the families along 



70 Corbin's Advice; Or, 



the river had all their chickens and turkeys all killed, and 
packed off by the wolves until there wasn't a chicken left 
to make broth when one of the family was sick, and that 
the women did not have a dozen eggs to sell to get a 
calico dress to wear for her or the children, and were 
obliged to stay at home on account of not a decent dress 
to wear to church. And without a larger bounty the 
wolves would eat up all the stock until there would not be 
any left to levy a tax on to raise the money to pay the 
county officers their salary, and we would not be bothered 
with county officers, for if there was no stock to levy a tax 
on to pay the county officers now none would want a county 
office, for it was the money that they were after and that 
is the reason they want the wolf hunter to catch the wolves 
and board himself— for that reason they wanted all the 
moiney themselves, and how none would want an office only 
for the money. About this time they thought I was right 
and Mr. Dougald Campbell, Emmons county, biggest stock- 
man in the county, addressed the board in my favor and 
also Mr. H. A. Armstrong addressed the board in my favor, 
who was the county attorney at that time. I then told 
them if they did not give me $2 for young wolves, and $3 
on old wolves, I would not pick up my Winchester. They 
might keep their wolves, it would only be a few years 
until it would cost the county $10,000 to kill all the wolves 
in the county. So they finally allowed me the above 
bounty, $2 for kids and $3 for old ones, and at the present 
there are 2,208 and the increase is over 0,000 and at $2 
bounty. Eight thousand three hundred and twenty-eight 
wolves at $2 per head makes a total of $16,056. Now not 
only Emmons county, but the whole state is in the same 
boat. • 

^o^ 

STATISTICS OP EMMONS COUNTY. 

No. Value Average 

Horses 1-year-old 906 $9,060 $10.00 

Horses 2-year-old 1,487 25,279 17.00 

Horses 3-year-old 2,205 57,840 2(] . oO 

Stallions 18 2,900 150.00 

Cattle 1-year-old 3,953 39,629 10.00 

Cattle 2-year-old 3,157 4,198 14.00 

Cattle 3-year-old 4,232 71,944 17.00 

All other cattle 569 14,225 25 . 00 

Mules and asses 22 592 

Sheep 20,160 25,280 1.75 

Hogs 1,078 3,210 

Number of wolves, 2,208; females, 1,104; increase, 5,520; 
total, 7,728. Number tO" section, five; killed in 1899, 350. 
Amount paid in wolf tax, $225. 



The Wolf Hunter's Guide. ' 71 



CHAPTER XIII, 

WOLVES WILL SOON OUTNUMBER ALL OTHER 
ANIMALS COMBINED IN THE STATE. 

There being 1,207,500 wolves in Nor^a Dakota, and allow- 
ing two pounds of beef per day at 5 cents per pound (less 
than market price) to feed them it will take to feed them 
for one year 881,475 steers of 1,000 pounds each, worth 
$44,070,750, The wolves will outnumber all other stock 
after July 4, 1900. 

If there should be no future increase of wolves in three 
years they would eat meals at the above figures, to the 
value of $132,212,250, considerable more than the total 
val^iation ($114,334,428.) of the state. 

If each man kills 100 wolves it would take 12,075 men 
to kill the present wolf crop in one year. During the three 
months after May 1, 1900, 862,500 young wolves are born» 
or 9,583 per day. 

If 50,000 wolves are killed this summer, next year (1901) 
at their rate of increases, there will be 5,208,750 wolves at 
large in North Dakota. 

There was in North Dakota in 1899, 233,547 horses; 306,- 
784 cattle; 3,907 mules and asses: 205,247 sheep; 58,657 
hogs; grand total of 868,142 animals. 

There is a time for all things; a time to catch the young 
wolves, and let the old ones go because you can't help it. 
Corbin's system is the best for killing more tnan all the 
rest. The shortest way to trap a wolf is to decoy the wolf 
with a scent, and not with a bait and at the same time 
have your poison and trap where the wolf as any other 
animal will find both. While he is hunting for the scent, for 
this secret alone a charge of $1, and will not tell it for less; 
it is worth $50 to a wolf hunter. 

In the year 1898 the wolf crop was 100,000; 50,000 
were females, five to the litter, was 250,000; 7,000 was 
killed, which left 843,000 for 1899. Now we have this 
343,000 to start on for the banner year, 1900, one-half of 
this number are females, which is 171,500 increase, and five 
to the litter makes 87r,500; old ones, 343,000; total, 1,220,- 
500. 



Corbin''s Advice ; Or, 



AN INTERESTING TRIP. 

The story of my trip is this: John Yegen told me that 
he would pay me $5 if I should kill a female woif that had 
been raising her young on his turkeys, etc. So I went 
there, camped out, as usual, found her den, but failed to 
catch her that time. So I dug out her cubs; looked them 
over with a hunter's eye, and figuring accurately as astron- 
omers do on an eclipse, I saw that she would return to that 
den and replenish it again on the Gth day of May following. 
So promptly at that time next season I was there. 

At a glance I saw the dog woif sneaking off, and I knew 
the mate was not far away. So I grasped my Winchester, 
and at the same moment the female ran out of the den 
and I shot her. Performing the Caesarian operation, I soon 
had the cubs, as yet unborn. There were four of them 
alive and kicking, and using the appliance used for deli- 
cate babies, I soon had four likely little pets and I then 
went to the den, dug it out and found two more pups, six 
in all. I laid them down beside their dead mother for 
their first meals and this is according to Scripture, "although 
you may be dead you yet shan live." I then loaded them 
in the wagon, as the county commissioners had just taken 
the county bounty off. I saw my chance to place it back 
on again. I drove to the capital city, Bismarck of course, 
bought a rubber tit, and a pint of sweet milk and kept 
them on the bottle for three days, drove around the town 
with the outfit in the wagon, showed it up in good shape, 
got about thirty men to sign my petition to place the bounty 
back on; thirty men such as Judge Winchester, I. P. Baker, 
Joseph Hare, Mr. Patterson and many others, and I also 
had a decision of the attorney general that they could not 
rescind the order when once put on by petition signed by 
twenty-five stock raisers. Still they didn't restore the 
bounty. 

Whenever the wolves are seen as near after the 20th of 
April in certain localities, or often heard howling nights 
and mornings for ten days or more, it is a sure thing that 
they are living close by, and that is the place to go to look 
for the den, or their nest as some folks call it, and although 
you may not be able to find it, it is on that quarter section 
all the same. If it is rough land and water they probably 
filed on a reservoir claim. If it is a valley it is a hay 
claim, and they have taken it to hide their cubs in when 
they leave the den about the 1st of July. If it is a rough 
and stony piece of land they have taken it for a pre-emp- 
tion and are only holding it for breeding purposes, and 
when you go to look for the den go on horse back, or in a 
buggy. Never go in a wagon, the rattle of the wagon 
scares them away and they will go off on some high hill 
and lay down and watch you and you wont never see them 
but they are watching all the same. 



The Wolf Hunter's Guide. 73 

In looking for the den when you know by the sign that 
the den is close by this kind of sign, first new den dug 
and wolf tracks on the den, fresh tracks in bare places, 
and fresh beds in high grass, a fresh bed in a little brush 
thicket, and the birds nests just broken up and the eggs 
sucked, and where they have a calf leg or sheep legs, or 
where they have just dug out a piece of meat that they 
have had buried. These are sure signs that the den is 
close by and you ought to see one or both of the old wolves 
by this time; but it may be that they have seen you all the 
time. But the best sign is to see one or both of the old 
wolves sneaking around and ir they bark at you that is 
a sure sign that the den is close. Now if you can't find 
them go back in the evening or early in the morning with 
a ten-foot pole in your buggy, and your dog tied to the end 
of the pole, and drive in a circle and the closer you get 
to the den the closer to the wolf, as wolves will come to 
you. But don't shoot until you find the den for this is 
the way I make the old wolf teii me where her kids are, but 
if she jumps your dog shoot her or him as the case may 
be, for the den is close, and you can then find it an5n\'ay. 
Sometimes the den is on nice level ground. Sometimes 
they go in a washout. Sometimes in the rock, or if you 
are in a timber country they have them in a hollow log, 
or a hollow tree#. or hollow stump. They have them in 
a tree-lap on the ground. Sometimes in a 'small brush 
thicket. Sometimes on tne highest hill they can geL. 
Other times down in the hollow. 

I would ten tiroies rather go in and show you how I find 
them than to attempt to describe it on paper. 

The true sign is this, after May lOch, in North Dakota, 
you will find fresh dens cleaned out; one wolf will have as 
many as fifteen or twenty aens cleaned out for two weeks 
before they have their pups. I commence to hunt about 
the 10th of May, but about the 1st of June is the best time 
to find them with lictle work, because the cubs by that 
time has played probably fifty yards from the den and 
their path is easy to see, and very often the cubs are 
around the den, when you might get your eye on them; but 
as a general thing they never come out of the den until 
just about sun down, and when they are a month old the 
grass is all trampled down and worn off smooth around 
the den. There will be a lot chicken wings, and duck 
wings lying around the den, and a calf leg here and a 
sheep leg there, and swing them on the corners. The 
wolf breeds once a year and lives to be 20 years old. 



74 Corhiri's Advice ; Or, 



PSALM OF DAVID. 

1. The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want. 

2. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures; he 
leadeth me beside the still waters. 

3. He restoreth my soul; he leadeth me in -the paths 
of righteousness for his name's sake. 

4. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the 
shadow of death I will fear no evil for thou art with me, 
thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. 

5. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence 
of mine enemies; thou anointest my head with oil; my cup 
runneth over. 

0. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the 
days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord- 
forever. 



BIRTHS AND DEATHS IN 1900. 

The 1900 census show that the population of our coun- 
try will not be found tO' exceed 75,000,000. 

The fact that a baby will be born every twelve seconds 
during 1900, shows that 2,475,000 fresh citizens will be 
added to the country in 1900. At the same time of course,, 
people will continue to die. To keep up their departure 
the passing bell must toll every twenty-three seconds, 
ushering 1,350,000 Americans out of the world during the 
twelve months. 

Every twenty-four seconds, however, a marriage will 
occur, and it is a comfort to know that five cradles will 
be supplied with occupants every minute in the twenty- 
four hours throughout the last year of the nineteenth 
century. 



FROM CATTLE TO SHEEP. 

Wyoming is fast becoming tne sheepmen's country, and 
it is only a question of a few years When they will possess 
the state. Only five firms in the western portion still range 
cattle there. All the country south of Rawlings has been 
given up to the sheepmen, and firms that formerly ranged 
cattle have been forced to change their holdings into sheep. 
One cattleman says he is surrounded by sheep, but, having 
purchased a large tract of country from the Union Pacific, 
he has succeeded in holding his range. The business is 
being overdone in that section, ana there is a disposition on 
the part of some of the sheepmen to sell and get out, and 
it is probable that a large number of sheep will be thrown 
upon the market this season. — National Stockmen. 



The Wolf Hunter^s Guide, 



75 



A BRIEF SKETCH OF MY LIFE. 

I was born in the state of ignorance; immigrated to the 
state of starvation, and have made a gooa living since, 
learned to read, buying newspapers while in the army; 
learned to count, counting wolf scalps since I have been 
in the business; and learned to write signing mortgages. 
BENJAMIN COxiBIN, Glencoe, N. D. 

COYOTE. — A carnivorous animal (canis latrans), allied 
to the dog, found in the western part of North America — 
called also prairie wolf. Its voice is a snapping bark, fol- 
lowed by prolonged, shrill howl. 



GRAY WOLVES. 

The stockmt.n of western Nebraska, South Dakota, Colo- 
rado and Wyoming are having a vast amount of trouble 
with gray wolves, which are very numerous and so destruc- 
tive to cattle that they intend to have a convention to talk 
the matter over and see if some plan cannot be devised for 
ridding the country of the pests. Irrigation Age tells that 
in western Nebraska these pests are particularly numerous. 
The losses are increasing yearly, and the stockmen say 
that the gray wolf is becoming as great a curse to north- 
western Nebraska as the jack rabbit is to Australia. 




Mr. Bryan has developed other strong qualities which 
tend to add lo the detestation in which he is held by the 
republican press. In Texas recently he went with a party 
01 Texas rangers on a hunt and lassoed a panther. And 
now the venal republican press insinuates that the panther 
was the pet of a citizen of Austin, and that Mr. Bryan was 
imposed upon. Nevertheless, in tackling the brute Mr. 
Bryan showed his courage. There are plenty of pet var- 
mints in Washington who will have to hunt their holes or 
be strangled when Mr. Bryan becomes president and starts: 
out with his lasso. 



76 



CorbirVs Advice ; Or, 



To make yoiiv hens lay perpetually. Give your hens 
half an ounce of fresh meat, chopped fine, once a day, while 
the ground is frozen, and they cannot get worms or insects; 
allow no males to run with them, and they will lay per- 
petually. Try it. 

They also require plenty of grain, water, gravel, and 
Jime. 



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UN 15 1900 



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